OPTICAL ELEMENT, SCANNING OPTICAL SYSTEM, OPTICAL SCANNER, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical element that can suppress a change in a polarization state of light after passage without causing a price increase.SOLUTION: A scanning lens (optical element) in scanning optical systems has a main body part 101 and a microstructure part 102. The microstructure part 102 includes a plurality of cuboids in which a longitudinal direction coincides with the main axis azimuth of birefringence in the main body part 101. With this configuration, a polarization state of light hardly changes after passing through the scanning lens. The main body part 101 and microstructure part 102 are molded integrally with each other. Thus, the resin-made optical element can be achieved that can suppress a change in the polarization state of light after passage without causing a price increase.