Patent ID: 7477813

Claim:
A multi-beam light source comprising: an optical fiber array in which a plurality of optical fibers are arrayed or a semiconductor laser array in which a plurality of semiconductor lasers are arrayed; and a light guide array having a plurality of light guide patterns which are to be connected with exit surfaces of the optical fiber array or the semiconductor laser array so that a plurality of beams emitted from the optical fiber array or the semiconductor laser array are guided by the light guide patterns; wherein: an array pitch P 2 of entrance surfaces of the light guide patterns is 1/N time as small as an array pitch P 1 of exit surfaces of the optical fiber array or the semiconductor laser array; an array pitch P 3 of exit surfaces of the light guide patterns is narrower than the array pitch P 2 ; the number of the light guide patterns is N or more times as large as the number of the optical fibers or the semiconductor lasers (providing N is an integer not smaller than 2); and exit surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers or the plurality of semiconductor lasers are connected with entrance surfaces of a plurality of the light guide patterns opposed thereto.