Patent ID: 7123395

Claim:
An optical scanner comprising: a light source for emitting a plurality of light beams; an optical deflector for scanning the light beams from the light source; a first image formation optical system, arranged between the light source and the optical deflector, for leading the light beams from the light source to a deflecting plane of the optical deflector and for forming, on the deflecting plane, a line image whose width is greater than the plane width of the deflecting plane; and a second image formation optical system, arranged between the optical deflector and a scanning plane to be scanned, for leading the light beams from the optical deflector to the scanning plane and forming an image on the scanning plane, wherein optical axes of the respective light beams are defined by peak positions in the luminous energy distributions, and the first image formation optical system is adjusted so that two of the optical axes of the light beams, directed to outermost ends, are approximately symmetrical about an optical axis of the first image formation optical system in a main scanning direction.