Patent ID: 6424404
Filing Date: 2002-07-23
Classification: B82Y,F25J,G02B,G03F,G21K

Abstract:
A printing system comprising:an optical projection system having an object plane, an image plane which is conjugate to the object plane, and a limiting aperture stop which is referred to as the projection aperture; a multi-stage microlens array comprising compound lenses having respective first-stage lens apertures defining a microlens aperture array, wherein the aperture array is positioned at the projection system's image plane, and wherein the compound lenses have respective terminal lens elements and corresponding terminal focal points which define a focal point array; a scanning mechanism which establishes relative motion between the microlens array and a printing surface proximate the focal point array, wherein the paths traversed by the focal points relative to the printing surface comprise a set of closely-spaced raster lines; an image source comprising an array of light-modulating image source elements, wherein the image source is positioned at the projection system's object plane, and wherein the projection system images each image source element onto a corresponding first-stage lens aperture and the image source element thus controls the light level over a microspot on the printing surface, proximate the corresponding terminal focal point; and an image modulation mechanism that controls the image source as the printing surface is scanned, whereby, when a photosensitive material is positioned in the printing surface, a synthesized, high-resolution raster image is recorded on the photosensitive material.