Patent ID: 7333254

Claim:
An optical scanning apparatus for scanning a surface to be scanned by using a beam spot formed of an optical beam emitted from a semiconductor laser, comprising: a liquid crystal element deflecting a light path of said optical beam on said surface to be scanned; and a light rotating part rotating a polarization plane of said optical beam in such a way that the polarization plane of said optical beam is in parallel with an optical axis of the liquid crystal element, wherein a position of said optical spot is adjusted on the surface to be scanned by deflecting a light path of said optical beam in a subscanning section of said liquid crystal element, said surface to be scanned is scanned by an optical beam synthesized from at least two optical beams emitted from at least two semiconductor lasers by using a PBS (Polarization Beam Splitter) surface, and said liquid crystal element is arranged so as to convert an optical beam emitted from said liquid crystal element into one of an S-polarized optical beam or a P-polarized optical beam toward said PBS surface.