OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DRIVING LIQUID CRYSTAL ELEMENT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize the shape of a beam spot on a scanned surface by suppressing changes in a convergence or divergence state of a projection beam caused by optical path deflection of an incident beam when a liquid crystal element is applied as an optical path deflecting means in an optical scanning device. SOLUTION: The optical scanning device 20 is equipped with liquid crystal elements 43a and 43b capable of modulating the phase of a laser beam, wherein the liquid crystal elements 43a and 43b have striped electrode patterns arrayed in one direction and have a means (liquid crystal element driving IC) 45 of varying the effective value of a driving voltage for each of the striped electrode patterns, and the voltage applied to the striped electrode patterns provided in the liquid crystal elements 43a and 43b are controlled by the liquid crystal driving IC 45 to optionally control the phases of laser beams emitted from the liquid crystal elements 43a and 43b. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI