Importance

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Abstract

An optical scanning system for scanning a plurality of light beams on scanned surfaces, such as photosensitive drums, includes a light source, a front optical system, a deflector (e.g., a rotating polygon mirror) that scans the light beams in a main scanning direction, and a rear optical system for directing the light beams toward the scanned surfaces so that separations of the light beams in a sub-scanning direction that is orthogonal to the main scanning direction increase due to the light beams entering the rear optical system at diverging angles. The front optical system includes a lens group that is adjacent to the deflector and is of negative refractive power at least in the second direction. The rear optical system includes cylindrical lens parts that are oppositely inclined relative to the optical axis in a plane that includes the sub-scanning direction in order to correct curvatures of the scanning lines.

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First Claim