Patent ID: 6873466
Filing Date: 2005-03-29
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. A scanning optical system, comprising: a plurality of light sources that emit a plurality of light beams; a polygon mirror arranged to rotate about a rotation axis and having a reflection surface parallel to said rotation axis, said light sources being arranged to emit said light beams toward a substantially single point defined in a vicinity of said reflection surface of said polygon mirror, said light beams being distributed symmetrically with respect to a main scanning plane, said main scanning plane passing through said single point and being perpendicular to said rotation axis of said polygon mirror, said reflection surface deflecting said light beams so as to scan said light beams on different photoconductive drums; an image forming optical system disposed between said polygon mirror and the different photoconductive drums to converge the light beams deflected by said reflection surface on the different photoconductive drums; and a light shielding member disposed between said polygon mirror and said image forming optical system, said light shielding member blocking a ghost light reflected by another reflection surface of the polygon mirror located adjacent to the reflection surface deflecting the light beams, said ghost light being generated by said image forming optical system partially reflecting said light beams toward the polygon mirror.