An optical device includes a first light source emitting a first beam, a second light source emitting a second beam and arranged upstream in a scanning direction, a diaphragm including an opening passing portions of the first beam, the first portion having a first width from the light axis of the first beam on the upstream side, the second portion having a second width from the light axis on the downstream side, the first width narrower than the second width, and an opening passing portions of the second beam, the first portion having a third width from the light axis of the second beam on the upstream side, the second portion having a fourth width from the second light axis on the downstream side, the third width wider than the fourth width, and a deflector deflecting on a surface thereon the beams at positions shifted in a sub scanning direction.

An optical device includes a first light source emitting a first beam, a second light source emitting a second beam and arranged upstream in a scanning direction, a diaphragm including an opening passing portions of the first beam, the first portion having a first width from the light axis of the first beam on the upstream side, the second portion having a second width from the light axis on the downstream side, the first width narrower than the second width, and an opening passing portions of the second beam, the first portion having a third width from the light axis of the second beam on the upstream side, the second portion having a fourth width from the second light axis on the downstream side, the third width wider than the fourth width, and a deflector deflecting on a surface thereon the beams at positions shifted in a sub scanning direction.

An image forming apparatus includes first and second light sensors positioned in a laser scanning system of at least one color, such that scanned light is detected by the first light sensor and then by the second light sensor and light sensing surfaces of the first and second light sensors are not parallel, and a control unit connected to the first and second light sensors and configured to determine a time difference in the timing of light detection by the first and second light sensors and to execute a color position shift operation upon determining that the time difference is greater than a first threshold value.

An apparatus configured to fly a light-absorbing material, includes a unit configured to irradiate a light-absorbing material absorbing light with a laser beam corresponding to a light absorption wavelength of the light-absorbing material to fly the light-absorbing material. When a preceding beam radiation region and a following beam radiation region overlap, the following beam radiation region is irradiated with the laser beam such that a beam centroid position is outside the preceding beam radiation region.

An optical deflector is configured such that a distance between a circumscribed circle of a rotary polyhedron centered on an axis of the rotary polyhedron and an inner peripheral surface of a peripheral wall of a cover member in a radial direction of the rotary polyhedron is largest at both of circumferential ends of an opening of the cover member.

Optical spectroscopy is a widely used method to identify the chemical composition of materials and the characteristics of optical signals. Silicon based integrated photonics offers a platform for many optical functions through microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and microoptoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS), silicon waveguides, integrated CMOS electronics and hybrid integration of compound semiconductor elements for optical gain. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide advanced optical tools for techniques such as optical spectroscopy and optical tomography exploiting MOEMS to provide swept filters that offer improved performance, increased integration, reduced footprint, reduced power consumption, increased flexibility, reconfigurability, and lower cost. Further, such MOEMS elements can support the provisioning of swept optical sources, swept filters, swept receivers etc. in the planar waveguide domain without free space optics.

An optical scanning device has an optical housing. A coupled Helmholtz resonator having a first resonance space and a second resonance space therein is disposed in the optical housing. A translucent partition wall, a first partition wall, and a second partition wall which extend from a bottom wall to a top wall of the optical housing are arranged in this order from an upstream side toward a downstream side on an optical path between a light source and a rotary polygonal mirror. The first and second resonance spaces are separated from each other by the three partition walls. One of the first and second resonance spaces resonates at a frequency of a rotational speed of a motor, and the other of the first and second resonance spaces resonates at a generated frequency of a wind noise generated by the rotary polygonal mirror.

An optical scanning apparatus includes a deflector to deflect laser light emitted from a light source for scanning, and a detection unit attached to a substrate provided with a through-hole for the detection unit to receive laser light that has passed through the through-hole. The substrate is attached to an optical box that is to store the deflector. The detection unit detects the laser light to control an irradiation position on a scanned surface of the laser light reflected by the deflector. The optical box is provided with a passing portion to guide the laser light emitted from the light source to the detection unit, and protruded portions disposed around the passing portion and protruded toward the substrate side. The substrate is attached to the optical box in a state where the protruded portions are engaged with walls forming the through-hole.

Example embodiments relate to calibration systems usable for distortion characterization in cameras. An example embodiment includes a calibration system. The calibration system includes a first calibration target that includes a first mirror, a plurality of fiducials positioned on or adjacent to the first mirror, and an indexing fiducial positioned on or adjacent to the first mirror. The calibration system also includes a second calibration target that includes one or more second mirrors and has an aperture defined therein. The first mirror and the one or more second mirrors are separated by a distance. The first mirror faces the one or more second mirrors. The indexing fiducial is visible through the aperture in the second calibration target. Reflections of the plurality of fiducials are visible through the aperture defined in the second calibration target. The reflections of the plurality of fiducials are iterated reflections.

To provide an optical scanning device including a lower housing including an opened top part, an upper housing that covers the top part of the lower housing, a rotating polygon mirror that reflects a beam, an f lens on which the beam reflected by the rotating polygon mirror is incident, and a reflection mirror that reflects the beam. The lower housing is provided with a bottom surface opening including an opened bottom surface between the rotating polygon mirror and the reflection mirror.