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VCSEL array-based light exposure system for laser printing

2008; SPIE; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1117/12.768479

1996-756X

Naotaka Mukoyama, Hiromi Otoma, Jun John Sakurai, Nobuaki Ueki, H. Nakayama,

Laser Material Processing Techniques

Improving the image quality and speed is an endless demand for printer applications. To meet the market requirements, we have launched the world first laser printer (DocuColor 1256 GA) introducing 780-nm single-mode 8×4 VCSEL arrays in the light exposure system in 2003. The DocuColor 1256 GA features 2400 dots per inch (dpi) resolution which is the highest in the industry and a speed of 50 pages per minute (ppm). A VCSEL array design has an advantage that it can increase the pixel density and also increase the printing speed by simultaneously scanning the 32-beam to the photoconductor in the exposure process. Adopting VCSELs as a light source also contributes to the reduction of the machine's power consumption. The VCSELs are industrially manufactured based on the original in-situ monitored oxidation process to control the oxide aperture size. As a result, uniform characteristics with a less than 5% variation in both output power and divergence angle are obtained. Special care is also taken in the assembly process to avoid additional degradation in performance and quality. This technology is currently extended to high-end tandem color machines (2400 dpi, 80 ppm) to grasp on-demand publishing market. This paper will cover the key technologies of the VCSEL based light exposure system as well as its manufacturing process to assure its quality.