Abstract: A method for depth controlled ion milling, the method may include (a) ion milling a calibrated area and a target area; wherein the ion milling comprises exposing an interior of the calibrated area to provide an exposed interior of the calibrated area; wherein the target area comprises a buried region of interest that is positioned at a certain depth; wherein the calibrated area comprises a certain layer that is positioned at the certain depth; wherein the certain layer is visually distinguishable from another layer of the calibrated area that is precedes the certain layer; (ii) monitoring a progress of the milling by viewing the exposed interior of the calibrated area; and (iii) controlling of the ion milling based on an outcome of the monitoring.

Abstract: An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system is provided. The EUV lithography system includes the above-mentioned extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation source. The EUV lithography system further includes a collector configured to collect and reflect the EUV radiation and a mask stage configured to secure an EUV mask. The EUV lithography system also includes a wafer stage configured to secure a semiconductor wafer. In addition, the EUV lithography system includes one or more optical modules configured to direct the EUV radiation from the radiation source to image an integrated circuit (IC) pattern defined on the EUV mask onto the semiconductor wafer.

Abstract: A processor extracts a reference signal of a scanner included in an adaptive optics SLO apparatus output while the scanner performs reciprocating scanning on a region of an eye to be inspected, generates sampling data strings of reciprocating scanning for individual imaging units included in the adaptive optics SLO apparatus using the reference signal as a sampling reference position, and compares, among the sampling data strings of the reciprocating scanning, a sampling data string of forward scanning with a sampling data string of backward scanning so as to evaluate the correlation between the sampling data strings, compares evaluation results obtained for the individual imaging units so as to evaluate reliability, and compensates a sampling reference position based on the evaluation results. An image construction unit assembles image data to construct an image of the region of the eye based on the compensated sampling reference position for each imaging unit.

Abstract: A printing system and method comprising a transport system configured to move a print target, a laser for directing energy on the print target, and a control system configured to adjust the energy directed on the print target according to a present speed of the print target the control system further comprising an analog control, a scrolling window control, a pulse width modulation control, and a halftone modulation control.

Abstract: A light scanning apparatus, including: a light source; a light intensity detecting portion configured to detect a light intensity of the light beam emitted from the light source; and a light intensity controller configured to control the light intensity based on a detection result of the light intensity detecting portion, wherein the light intensity controller is configured to supply, in advance, to the light source, a bias current smaller than a threshold current at which the light source starts emitting the light beam, and is configured to control a supply of a drive current to the light source, the drive current being generated by superimposing, on the bias current, a switching current for controlling the light source in accordance with an image signal, and the light intensity controller includes a current stopping unit configured to stop a supply of the bias current and the drive current to the light source.

Abstract: A disclosed surface-emitting laser module includes a surface-emitting laser formed on a substrate to emit light perpendicular to its surface, a package including a recess portion in which the substrate having the surface-emitting laser is arranged, and a transparent substrate arranged to cover the recess portion of the package and the substrate having the surface-emitting laser such that the transparent substrate and the package are connected on a light emitting side of the surface-emitting laser. In the surface-emitting laser module, a high reflectance region and a low reflectance region are formed within a region enclosed by an electrode on an upper part of a mesa of the surface-emitting laser, and the transparent substrate is slanted to the surface of the substrate having the surface-emitting laser in a polarization direction of the light emitted from the surface-emitting laser determined by the high reflectance region and the low reflectance region.

Abstract: An image forming device includes a controller and a laser scanning unit. The laser scanning unit includes a light source for generating a laser beam for discharging a photoconductive member to create an electrostatic latent image. A first memory is housed on the laser scanning unit and stores data unique to the laser scanning unit and laser beam as characterized during production. A second memory in communication with the controller, and separate from the first memory, stores data characterizing a family of similar laser scanning units of a same type. The controller is configured to read both the first and second memories to generate data to compensate for energy variations along a scan path of the laser beam on the photoconductive member during use. The data substantially reduces energy variation from one scan path to a next.

Abstract: Systems and methods of digital automatic power control are presented. A preamplifier circuit may include a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit to sample a power signal, such as a from a laser power monitor. The preamplifier may store the sample in an internal preamplifier memory. The sample may be utilized to update a current output of the preamplifier that affects the power signal. These systems and methods may be particularly useful for lasers and heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), which may be utilized during a read mode or a write mode of a HAMR data storage device.

Abstract: There is provided a method of making an optical polymer waveguide having an arbitrary refractive index profile, the method including: a) providing a first input optical beam having a first beam intensity profile and a second input optical beam having a second beam intensity profile; b) combining the first and second input optical beams to form an output optical beam having an output beam intensity profile; and c) forming the optical waveguide on a substrate by: exposing the optical materials of the waveguide to the output optical beam; and curing the optical materials using said output optical beam.

Abstract: In one example, a printer includes a printer housing, a photoconductor to apply toner to a print substrate, a developer to apply toner to the photoconductor, a light source to expose parts of the photoconductor to light, and a toner container to supply toner to the developer. The toner container housing is integrated into the printer housing as a load bearing structure or as an exterior feature, and/or the light source is integrated into the toner container as a single sub-assembly within the printer housing.

Abstract: A printing apparatus (liquid droplet ejecting apparatus) includes a detector configured to output a first signal which denotes that a medium is not supported on a support face of a medium support unit, and a second signal which denotes that a medium is supported on the support face; and a controller that limits executing of a printing operation when the first signal in received and allows executing of a printing operation when the second signal is received. The controller is configured to ignore the first signal or interpret the first signal as the second signal under a specified condition.

Abstract: An optical system for semiconductor lithography including a plurality of optical components, as well as related components and methods, are disclosed. The apparatus can include an optical component that can be moved by a distance along a straight line within a time of between 5 ms and 500 ms. The straight line can have a polar and azimuth angle of between 0° and 90°, and a distance between the straight line and an optical axis of the apparatus being less than a cross-sectional dimension of a projection exposure beam bundle of the projection exposure apparatus. The apparatus can also include a guide unit configured to guide the optical component.

Abstract: An optical scanning device includes a light source emitting light to form an image by optical scanning; and a control section generating a control signal, which is for turning on and off the light source, based on an image signal. Further, the control section generates a pulse signal having a predetermined time width when the image signal indicates that the light source is to be turned off.

Abstract: A laser light control device includes: a photodiode disposed, along with a semiconductor laser, at a location capable of receiving laser light reflected on a polygon mirror after emitted from the semiconductor laser can be received; a semiconductor laser drive control section; and a comparison circuit configured to compare an output voltage of the photodiode and a reference voltage corresponding to a reference amount of light of the semiconductor laser. The semiconductor laser drive control section uses a timing with which the semiconductor laser drive control section receives from the comparison circuit an output indicating that the voltage output from the photodiode is larger than the reference voltage to generate a light emission start timing with which the semiconductor laser starts to emit laser light based on an image signal.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to perform printing using a light source unit and a photosensitive medium, a registration unit to adjust an exposure time to correspond to a change in a power of a light source when the power of the light source changes, and a controller to control the image forming unit to perform printing according to the adjusted exposure time.

Abstract: A laser system can include a laser and a laser output modulator to modulate the output of the laser.

Abstract: In an optical scanning apparatus, a light source includes a plurality of light emitting elements. A light beam output from the source is scanned and deflected by a polygon mirror so as to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of a light sensitive member. A control unit controls the source so that the source outputs the light beam in a first period before a second period in which the light beam deflected by the mirror forms the image. During the first period for outputting the light beam from the source a period for scanning a non-image region of the member in a state in which the rotation speed of the mirror is being accelerated or decelerated is made longer than a period for scanning the non-image region of the member in a state in which the rotation speed of the mirror is controlled at a constant speed.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a light source including a plurality of light emitting elements for emitting a light beam for exposing the photosensitive member, the light emitting elements being arranged respectively corresponding to one pixel of the image in a direction of a rotational axis of the photosensitive member, an output unit for outputting pixel data for driving each of the light emitting elements, a drive unit for driving the light emitting elements based on the output pixel data, a storage unit for storing a cumulative number of times of light emission of a target light emitting element included in the light emitting elements, and a light amount control unit for controlling a light amount of a light beam emitted by the target light emitting element and the other light emitting elements based on the stored cumulative number of times of light emission of the target light emitting element.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor, a charger to charge the photoconductor, a multi-beam scanning unit, a development unit, and a transfer unit. The multi-beam scanning unit includes a vertical cavity surface emitting laser as a light source having light emitting elements arrayed in main and sub-scanning directions by setting an interval between light emitting elements adjacently disposed at a center portion of the scanning unit in the sub-scanning direction narrower than an interval between other light emitting elements adjacently disposed at other portions of the scanning unit in the sub-scanning direction, a deflecting element to deflect light emitted from the light emitting elements to scan the surface of photoconductor by an interlace scan, and a light intensity adjustment unit to adjust light intensity of the light emitting elements adjacently disposed at the center portion relative to a light intensity of other light emitting elements adjacently disposed at other portions.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus using the laser scan method or the LED method, which is capable of reducing a variation of spot diameter with a simple mechanism, and of forming a high-quality image by adjusting the density depending on the image resolution with a low cost. The image forming apparatus forms an image by developing an electrostatic latent image formed by irradiating a charged photoconductor with light emitted from a light source with developer. A detecting unit detects a distance between an attention pixel and an adjacent image that is adjacent to an image including the attention pixel across a white background. An adjustment unit adjusts a density of the attention pixel based on the distance measured with the detecting unit and a spot diameter of the light on a surface of the photoconductor.

Abstract: A drawing control device includes: a fill-stroke generating unit that generates a fill stroke that includes a plurality of strokes that fill a drawing area; a shape-stroke generating unit that generates a shape stroke which is a stroke of a shape to be formed on the drawing area; a first detecting unit that detects an overlap portion where the fill stroke and the shape stroke overlap with each other; a modifying unit that removes the overlap portion from the fill stroke to modify the fill stroke to obtain a drawing stroke; a drawing-instruction generating unit that generates a drawing instruction for drawing each stroke in the drawing stroke; and a drawing control unit that controls a drawing device by using the drawing instruction to cause the drawing device to draw the drawing stroke on an object.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus comprises a light source, a photosensitive member and a control unit. The light source turns on in response to a driving current supplied based on image data. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive member by exposing the photosensitive member to a light beam output from the light source turned on. The control unit controls the value of the driving current supplied to the light source in accordance with a driving state of the light source so that the value of the driving current supplied to the light source differs and changes with the passage of time in accordance with the driving state of the light source prior to the driving current being supplied to the light source.

Abstract: A light beam scanning device which is capable of performing high-accuracy light amount control without complicated control even when the device includes a laser diode having non-linear I-L characteristics. Gain circuits set the amount of light to be emitted from the laser diode. A PD circuit board detects the amount of the emitted light. A laser controller controls the amount of the emitted light by adjusting drive current applied to the laser diode based on a detection output from the PD circuit board. A CPU corrects data for correcting the drive current. The CPU decides a light amount correction range for correcting the light amount based on the correction data, calculates the slope of the I-L characteristics in the light amount correction range based on light amounts at two points within the light amount correction range and drive currents associated with the respective light amounts, and corrects the correction data using the calculated slope.

Abstract: An optical scanning device that scans a scanning surface in a main scanning direction. The device includes a surface emitting laser as a light source, an optical deflector that deflects a light flux from the light source while rotating around a rotation axis, a monitor light receiving element, a synchronization detection light receiving element, a monitor optical system that directs the monitor light flux to the monitor light receiving element, a synchronization detection optical system that directs the synchronization detection light flux to the synchronization detection light receiving element, and a scanning optical system that directs a scanning light flux to the scanning surface. A combined focal length of the monitor optical system in the main scanning direction is smaller than a combined focal length of the synchronization detection optical system in the main scanning direction.

Abstract: An electrophotographic image forming apparatus that are capable of reducing the variation of the rise time of the laser light source due to the temperature change of the laser light source with a simple configuration. A laser light source emits a laser beam according to a driving signal in order to expose an image bearing member. A voltage detection unit detects terminal voltage of the laser light source. A drive unit has a voltage source that can control output voltage and supplies current corresponding to the output voltage of the voltage source to the laser light source when making the laser light source emit the laser beam according to the driving signal. A control unit controls the voltage source so that the output voltage of the voltage source generates current overshot to a target current based on the detection result of the voltage detection unit.

Abstract: The calculation unit calculates the time interval between the time at detecting the light beam reflected by the reflective surface of the rotatory polyhedron incident on the BD sensor by the light beam detecting unit and the time at detecting the light beam reflected by the reflective surface incident on the optical sensor in the light source by the return light beam detecting unit. The scan adjusting unit adjusts the luminescence time of the light source for scanning the light beam on the surface to be scanned based on the time interval calculated by the calculation unit.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a light source that emits light beams for scanning a photoconductive element and for image forming of image data, a storage unit that stores a correction amount of a turn-on time of the light source associated with a preset turn-on pattern of the light beams, an acquiring unit that compares a pattern of the image data with the turn-on pattern, so as to acquire the correction amount corresponding to the pattern of the image data which is associated with the turn-on pattern, from the storage unit; and a light source controller that controls turn-on of the light source by a turn-on time corrected with acquired correction amount.

Abstract: An effective image area can be properly corrected in accordance with the quantity of light from an irradiation unit by selecting, as the effective image area, pixels having light quantities more than or equal to a threshold value that allows accurate acquisition of a surface image of a recording medium, on the basis of a light quantity distribution of the light from the irradiation unit. This reduces the influence of mounting accuracy of the irradiation unit, and allows the recording medium to be identified accurately.

Abstract: Density unevenness caused by an optical facet angle error or the like of a polygon mirror which has a plurality of reflection planes is corrected after shipment with a simple configuration. At least one of the plurality of reflection planes is identified as a reference plane. A plurality of pieces of light amount adjustment data for changing the light amount of light deflected for each reflection plane with the reference plane as a reference, and at least one piece of light amount correction data for correcting the light amount based on the plurality of pieces of light amount adjustment data are stored. When a light source emits light, one mode can be selected out of a test print mode (S5) in which light is emitted in a light amount based on the plurality of pieces of light amount adjustment data and a corrected print mode (S13) in which light based on the light amount correction data is emitted.

Abstract: A laser light control device includes: a photodiode disposed, along with a semiconductor laser, at a location capable of receiving laser light reflected on a polygon mirror after emitted from the semiconductor laser can be received; a semiconductor laser drive control section; and a comparison circuit configured to compare an output voltage of the photodiode and a reference voltage corresponding to a reference amount of light of the semiconductor laser. The semiconductor laser drive control section uses a timing with which the semiconductor laser drive control section receives from the comparison circuit an output indicating that the voltage output from the photodiode is larger than the reference voltage to generate a light emission start timing with which the semiconductor laser starts to emit laser light based on an image signal.

Abstract: An optical device includes: a light source including a plurality of light emitting spots that output laser beams, respectively; a separating unit that separates each of the laser beams output from the plurality of light emitting spots into a monitor beam and a scanning beam; a light-quantity measuring unit that measures a light quantity of the monitor beam; a storage unit in which respective drive currents with which the plurality of light emitting spots of the light source output a prescribed light quantity of laser beams are stored in advance; a light-source control unit that drives the light source with the drive currents stored in the storage unit and causes the plurality of light emitting spots to output the laser beams; and a determining unit that determines whether the light source operates properly on the basis of the light quantity measured by the light-quantity measuring unit.

Abstract: An optical scanning device includes a MEMS mirror, a driving unit for oscillating the MEMS mirror using a drive voltage which varies in a basic cycle, a light detection unit for receiving laser light deflected by the MEMS mirror and outputting a detection signal, a correction value calculation unit for calculating a correction voltage value used in correcting the drive voltage, a DC voltage generation unit for generating a DC voltage having a voltage value smaller than the correction voltage value, a DC voltage amplification unit for amplifying the DC voltage generated by the DC voltage generation unit to have a voltage value equal to the correction voltage value, and a waveform shaping unit for shaping the waveform of the amplified DC voltage so that the DC voltage varies in the basic cycle and outputting the shaped DC voltage as the drive voltage to the driving unit.

Abstract: In a light source device including an aperture member that regulates a light beam, |(Pap1?Pap2)/Pap2|<|(P1?P2)/P2| is satisfied where P2 is a light intensity of the light beam entering the aperture member at a time t2 when 2 microseconds have passed since current was applied to the laser, P1 is a light intensity of the light beam entering the aperture member at a time t1 when 40 nanoseconds have passed since a light intensity of the light beam entering the aperture member reached 0.1 time the light intensity P2, Pap2 is a light intensity of the light beam output from the aperture member at the time t2, and Pap1 is a light intensity of the light beam output from the aperture member at a time t1? when 40 nanoseconds have passed since a light intensity of the light beam output from the aperture member reached 0.1 time the light intensity Pap2.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having: a light source for emitting a beam; a deflector for deflecting the beam; a light receiving element for receiving the beam and generating a detection signal; a converter for converting electric potentials of the detection signal into data values and generating time data associated with the data values; and a first calculator for calculating a position of center of the beam from the data values and the time data.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive body, an exposure unit, a pulse generating unit, a smoothing unit, a drive current generating unit, and a second emitting control unit. The exposure unit includes a light source for emitting a light beam, and causes the light beam emitted from the light source to perform scanning in a main scanning direction, thereby drawing a main scanning line on the photosensitive body. The second emitting control unit causes the light source to emit the light beam, in an APC period of automatically controlling the light quantity of the light beam, by causing the pulse generating unit to generate a pulse signal having a duty ratio of 100 percent, causing the smoothing unit to smooth the pulse signal thereby generating an analog signal, and causing the drive current generating unit to generate a drive current based on the analog signal.

Abstract: An optical scanning apparatus that is capable of increasing use life of a semiconductor laser by decreasing the emission time for sensors that are independently provided for synchronous control, light control, and focus control. A laser beam emitted from a light source is deflected by a deflector, and scans a photoconductor. A beam splitter arranged between the light source and the deflector separates the laser beam, which is detected by a first detection unit. A second detection unit arranged in a non-image forming area detects the deflected laser beam to detect defocus amount. A focusing unit focuses the scanning laser beam based on a detection result of the second detection unit. A control unit controls the light amount of the laser beam applied to an image forming area based on a detection result of the first detection unit at the timing when the second detection unit detects the laser beam.

Abstract: An optical scanning unit includes a light source including a plurality of light-emitting elements; a light detector to detect a light beam emitted from the light source; a light-flux splitter, angled to the optical axis of the light beam emitted from the light source, having an aperture, a portion of reduced thickness susceptible to warping, a concave face of the warped light-flux splitter as a reflecting face, and a convex face of the warped light-flux splitter opposite the concave face as a non-reflecting face; and a light-flux splitter pressing unit to press the light-flux splitter onto a light-flux splitter holding member without blocking the aperture. Light beam passed the aperture is used as a write-use light flux. The reflecting face reflects a light flux other than the write-use light flux as a monitor-use light flux. The light-flux splitter pressing unit presses a portion of maximum convexity of the non-reflecting face.

Abstract: An optical writing device includes a light emission control unit configured to cause a light source to emit light based on a rotational position of a photosensitive element and pixel information making up a correction pattern to form an electrostatic latent image of the correction pattern on the photosensitive element, the correction pattern being formed across an entire circumference of the photosensitive element in a rotating direction; a reading signal acquiring unit configured to acquire reading signals resulting from reading the correction pattern, and generate, based on the reading signals, density variation information in which the rotational position and a density of the correction pattern are associated; and a correction value information generation control unit configured to generate information about correction to an amount of light emitted by the light source based on the density of the correction pattern to generate correction value information.

Abstract: A light source includes a plurality of light-emitting units arranged in a two-dimensional array. An optical element changes divergence angles of laser beams from the light-emitting units. A splitting element splits a part of each of the laser beams passing through the optical element. A compensating element compensates for a fluctuation in the divergence angle of each of the laser beams incident on the splitting element due to a change of temperature. A light-receiving element receives laser beams split by the splitting element. The light source, the optical element, the splitting element, the compensating element, and the light-receiving element are integrally supported.

Abstract: Since a photodiode (PD) is disposed in the vicinity of the plurality of light emitting elements and, therefore, the PD also receives a laser beam emitted only by a bias current during the APC period, setting a bias current based on a result of light amount detection by the PD does not result in a bias current setting with sufficient accuracy. To solve this issue, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus forms an electrostatic latent image pattern on a photosensitive drum, and controls the value of the bias current set for a first light emitting element based on the potential of the electrostatic latent image pattern and a detecting result of the PD.

Abstract: An optical device includes: an irradiation unit that irradiates a part of laser beams output from a light source as a scan beam onto an irradiation target and outputs the remaining part of the laser beams as a monitor beam used to monitor a light amount of the laser beams; a measurement unit that measures a light amount of the monitor beam; a storage unit that stores a plurality of measurement results obtained by the measurement unit when the laser beams are output in a plurality of different light amounts, and the plurality of the different light amounts associated with each other; and a prediction unit that predicts the light amount of the monitor beam relative to a reference light amount of the laser beam using a plurality of the light amounts stored in the storage unit and the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of the light amounts.

Abstract: First and second light amount detection elements are arranged on a scanning line of a laser beam. The first light amount detection element receives a laser beam having a first light amount, and the second light amount detection element receives a laser beam having a second light amount that is lower than the first light amount. The detection signal that is output by the second light amount detection element is amplified by an amplifier and used as a synchronization signal. Here, an amplification factor of this amplifier is greater than an amplification factor of another amplifier for amplifying the detection signal that is output by the first light amount detection element. The detection signals amplified by the amplifiers are modified by a modification coefficient that correspond to the amplification factors, and used as signals that indicate the light amounts.

Abstract: A light source control apparatus that do not always require calculations for the upper limit of driving current when characteristic of a light source varies. The light source control apparatus controls a light source that exhibits a characteristic including an uptrend region where the light amount increases with increasing driving current and a downtrend region where the light amount decreases with increasing driving current. A determination unit determines whether the light source is in the uptrend or downtrend region based on signals from a light variation detection unit and a current variation detection unit. A control unit matches the light amount (L) with target light amount (T), by increasing the driving current when L<T in the uptrend region or when L>T in the downtrend region, and by decreasing the driving current when L>T in the uptrend region and when L<T in the downtrend region.

Abstract: An optical device includes a drive unit configured to drive a light source that outputs a laser beam; a detecting unit configured to detect the laser beam output from the light source; a converting unit configured to convert an output of the detecting unit into a value within a predetermined range; and a control unit configured to control the drive unit to switch a light quantity of the laser beam output from the light source from a first light quantity within an imaging light quantity range for forming an image to a second light quantity outside the imaging light quantity range, or vice versa. The converting unit converts an upper limit light quantity in the imaging light quantity range into a maximum value in the predetermined range, and converts a lower limit light quantity in the imaging light quantity range into a minimum value in the predetermined range.

Abstract: An image forming device includes: an exposure head that includes a light emitting element and a light emission controller that causes the light emitting element to emit light on the basis of a control signal; a photoreceptor that is exposed to the light emitted by the light emitting element included in the exposure head so that a latent image is formed on the photoreceptor; a correcting section that corrects the control signal on the basis of the spectral sensitivity of the photoreceptor to a spectral distribution of the light emitting element; and a developing section that develops the latent image formed on the photoreceptor.

Abstract: An image processing method including: measuring a distance between a medium where an image is to be recorded and an image processing apparatus which stores a relation between irradiation energy and distance previously measured; calculating an irradiation energy from the distance measured in the measuring based on the relation stored in the image processing apparatus; and irradiating and heating the medium with laser beams having the irradiation energy obtained in the calculating to record an image in the medium.

Abstract: An optical scanning device includes: a first scanning; a first scanning mirror driving unit; a light emission signal output unit; a light receiving unit; and a phase control unit which controls the first scanning mirror driving unit so as to delay a phase of the oscillation of the first scanning mirror when the light receiving unit outputs the detection signal before intermediate time in a case where the light receiving unit does not output the detection signal during a predetermined period of time, the phase control unit controlling the first scanning mirror driving unit so as to advance a phase of the oscillation of the first scanning mirror when the light receiving unit outputs the detection signal after the intermediate time in the case where the light receiving unit does not output the detection signal during the predetermined period of time.

Abstract: The present invention provides an image processing method which includes at least any one of image recording and image erasing, wherein a light irradiation intensity at a center position of the laser beam irradiated in the image recording is controlled; in the image recording, a first auxiliary line extended by a predetermined distance from a start point of each of image lines constituting an image in the opposite direction from the scanning direction and a second auxiliary line extended by a predetermined distance from an end point of each of the image lines in the scanning direction are prepared, and when the first and second auxiliary lines including an image line are continuously scanned, the image line is scanned with irradiating the laser beam, and the first and the second auxiliary lines are scanned without irradiating the laser beam to thereby record the image.

Abstract: A system for generating a differential gloss image useful for digital printing includes a digital front end configured for receiving variable image data; and an imaging device including a laser glossing imager, the imaging device being configured to receive raster image data from the digital front end, the raster image data being based on the received variable image data, and the imaging device being configured to generate a differential gloss image over a printed image based on the received variable image data.

Abstract: The technology disclosed relates to patterning of flexible substrate. One implementation can be applied for production of flexible displays and other electronic devices on flexible substrates. The substrate may be plastic film typically 50-150 microns thick and the size of the pattern features may typically be in the range 1-10 microns across. Larger and smaller structures are possible. The patterning is done by means of optical exposure, either by exposure of a photosensitive resist or lacquer, or by other thermal or photochemical interaction between the light and the substrate. The substrate may typically be loaded as a roll and after exposure and other processing it may be rolled up on a second output roll, so called roll-to-roll (R-to-R) processing.