A coherent light scanner for optical processing of large format transparencies

Abstract

A laser scanner is discussed in which the scanning beam is random-access addressable and perpendicular to the image input plane and the irradiance of the scanned beam is controlled so that a constant average irradiance is maintained after passage through the image plane. The scanner's optical system and design are described, and its performance is evaluated. It is noted that with this scanner, data in the form of large-format transparencies can be processed without the expense, space, maintenance, and precautions attendant to the operation of a high-power laser with large-aperture collimating optics. It is shown that the scanned format as well as the diameter of the scanning beam may be increased by simple design modifications and that higher scan rates can be achieved at the expense of resolution by employing acousto-optic deflectors with different relay optics.