Patent ID: 7817322

Claim:
An optical scanning device comprising: an optical scanning element which includes a mirror portion having a reflection surface and a spring portion which is connected to the mirror portion and is configured to generate torsional oscillations which generates resonance oscillations of the mirror portion in a swinging state, the optical scanning element being configured to scan light incident on the optical scanning element due to the resonance oscillations of the mirror portion on the reflection surface, and the optical scanning element being also configured to generate subsidiary resonance oscillations consisting of longitudinal oscillations or lateral oscillations at a first resonance frequency on a lower region side and at a second resonance frequency on a higher region side with respect to a resonance frequency of the resonance oscillations in the swinging state due to the torsional oscillations; and a drive signal outputting part which is configured to output a drive signal for oscillating the spring portion at a specific frequency which is a frequency between the first resonance frequency and the second resonance frequency and is higher than the resonance frequency of the torsional oscillations and, thereafter, to shift the frequency of the drive signal to the resonance frequency of the torsional oscillations.