Abstract: A method is presented for aligning the nozzles of a number of individual inkjet cartridges that are combined to create a multiple inkjet head array for an inkjet printer. The method includes fabricating spatially referenced inkjet cartridge sub-assemblies by permanently attaching an intermediate fixture member to pre-made inkjet cartridges whilst referencing the intermediate fixture members to the inkjet nozzle arrays of the inkjet cartridges. The method further includes removably combining a number of such spatially referenced inkjet cartridge sub-assemblies in mutual spatial registration on a common fixture such that the inkjet nozzles of the different inkjet cartridges are all in spatial registration with one another. By this method an array of inkjet heads, of which all the nozzles are in the desired relative positions with respect to one another, is created.

Abstract: A multimode laser diode stripe is imaged on a light valve, which separates the diode stripe image into a plurality of individually controllable channels. These channels are then imaged onto a recording media where they form a plurality of tracks. Introduction of astigmatism between the multimode laser diode and the light valve causes the laser diode stripe imaged on the light valve to be sharply focussed on its short axis, but less focussed on its elongated axis. This blurring of the stripe's elongated axis at the light valve overcomes near-field non-uniformity in the power distribution of the multimode diode, increasing the reliability and performance of the recording system.