Patent ID: 7233425

Claim:
A multi-beam scanner, comprising: a plurality of light sources configured to emit beams independently modulated according to an image signal, respectively, each of the beams having a prescribed divergence angle; a deflector having a deflecting/reflecting face and configured to deflect the beams of the plurality of light sources at an equiangular velocity; a scanning image-forming optical system configured to guide the beams deflected by the deflector to a scanned surface so as to be formed into a plurality of light spots on the scanned surface; a light receiving device configured to sequentially and individually receive the beams deflected toward optical write-in starting portions on the scanned surface as synchronizing beams, the light receiving device being common to the synchronizing beams; and a synchronizing beam optical system configured to guide the deflected beams to the light receiving device, the scanning image-forming optical system and the synchronizing beam optical system being mutually separate, the synchronizing beam optical system configured to guide each deflected beam to a substantially same position on the light receiving face of the light receiving device irrespective of its wavelength with respect to a synchronizing beam detecting view angle, wherein the synchronizing beam optical system includes a converging lens, wherein the plurality of light sources include at least two light sources that modulate beams individually according to an image signal, and wherein the at least two light sources are mutually separate semiconductor lasers, and the beams from the semiconductor lasers are incident onto the deflector with respective opening angles in the main scanning direction via a coupling lens.