Patent ID: 7050082

Claim:
An optical scanning characteristic control method applied to an optical scanning system in which a beam is deflected, and the deflected beam is converged and directed toward a scanning surface, so that optical scanning of the scanning surface is performed by an optical spot formed thereon by the deflected beam, said method comprising the steps: a) disposing a beam deflection control device on the light path of the beam before it is incident on the scanning surface, said beam deflection control device configured to cause an electric field distribution in a liquid crystal by applying electricity to an electrode formed on a side of a glass substrate; and b) controlling a beam deflection amount of the beam deflecting device provided to an incident beam so as to control a scanning characteristic of the optical scanning, wherein at least one resinous image-formation optical device is disposed in the optical scanning system; the beam deflection control device comprises deflection areas configured by a series of a plurality of deflection devices defined in a main scanning direction, and the control of the scanning characteristic of the optical scanning is carried out individually for each of a plurality of ranges divided in the main scanning direction.