SCANNING OPTICAL DEVICE, AND COLOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To extend the life of a scanning optical device by reducing a light-emission time of a laser relating to detection and control such as APC, and detection of the focus deviation quantity.SOLUTION: A scanning optical device includes: a light quantity detection sensor 6 that is configured to be capable of detecting the quantity of a light source 1 of a semiconductor laser in a portion from the light source 1 to a deflector 8; and a laser beam detection sensor 13 that is arranged in a non-image area so that a laser beam emitted from the light source 1 is deflected by the deflector 8 to be made incident. A control unit of the scanning optical device controls the light quantity detection sensor 6 to detect the light quantity of the laser beam deflected by the deflector 8 when the laser beam is made incident on the laser beam detection sensor 13 for detection.