Patent ID: 7457020

Claim:
An optical scanning apparatus comprising: a first light source; a second light source arranged beside said first light source in a sub-scanning direction; a deflector that deflects respectively a first light beam outgoing from said first light source and a second light beam outgoing from said second light source, and scans over different scanned surfaces with the light beams; a first optical member provided in a first optical path between said first light source and said deflector, wherein the first light beam outgoing from said first light source passes through said first optical member; a second optical member provided in a second optical path between said second light source and said deflector, wherein the second light beam outgoing from said second light source passes through said second optical member which is disposed beside said first optical member in the sub-scanning direction, said second optical member having same optical characteristics as optical characteristics of said first optical member; a holding member that holds a side face of said first optical member and a side face of said second optical member, and positions said first optical member and said second optical member in a main-scanning direction; and a rotating mechanism that regulates said holding member from rotating about a Z-zxis and Y-axis but permits said holding member to rotate about an X-axis, wherein an axis parallel with a rotational axis of said deflector is defined as the Z-axis, an axis parallel with the main-scanning direction and perpendicular to the Z-axis is defined as the Y-axis, and an axis perpendicular to the Z- and Y-axes are defined as the X-axis.