JP4414252B2 - Reading exposure device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus for reading an image recording medium, and more specifically, when the image information is read by scanning and exposing an image recording medium on which image information has been recorded in advance with reading light. The present invention also relates to a reading exposure apparatus that exposes the reading light.

  Conventionally, in medical X-ray imaging, a part of this radiation energy is accumulated when irradiated with radiation, and then when a reading light such as visible light is irradiated, a stimulating light indicating a stimulating light emission according to the accumulated energy. An X-ray imaging system that uses a fluorescent material as an image recording medium is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this system, radiographic image information of a subject such as a human body was once recorded and recorded on a photostimulable phosphor panel, and this panel was scanned with reading light (excitation light) to generate photostimulated luminescence. An image signal carrying radiation image information is obtained by photoelectrically reading the photostimulated luminescence light with a sensor.

  Further, in order to reduce the exposure dose received by the subject, improve the diagnostic performance, etc., an X-sensitive electrostatic recording body made of a photoconductor such as a selenium plate made of a-Se is used as an image recording medium. Line imaging systems are also known. In this system, the electrostatic recording body is irradiated with radiation such as X-rays carrying radiation image information, and latent image charges carrying radiation image information are accumulated in the electrostatic recording body, and then electrostatic recording is performed with reading light. By detecting the current generated in the electrostatic recording body by scanning the body through the stripe electrode, the electrostatic latent image carried by the latent image charge, that is, radiation image information is read. (For example, refer nonpatent literature 1).

  In addition, the applicant of the present invention provides a first conductive layer that is transmissive to recording radiation, a recording photoconductive layer that exhibits photoconductivity when irradiated with recording radiation, and a first conductive layer. A charge transport layer that acts as a substantially insulator for charges having the same polarity as the charge charged to the body layer, and that acts as a conductor for charges of the opposite polarity to the charge, and irradiation of reading light An electrostatic recording body (image recording medium) and a radiographic image obtained by laminating a reading photoconductive layer exhibiting photoconductivity by receiving light and a second conductor layer having transparency to reading light in this order A reading apparatus that reads radiation image information from the electrostatic recording body on which information is recorded has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  The reading apparatus described in Patent Document 2 scans an image recording medium with reading light emitted from a light source, and reads an electrostatic latent image recorded on the image recording medium. As an exposure apparatus for reading, which is a light source that outputs reading light, a spot light exposure means that performs main / sub scanning exposure using spot light such as a laser beam, or a line light exposure means that performs sub scanning exposure using line light is used. Etc. are mentioned. Further, as a line light source for emitting line light, for example, a light source in which a large number of light emitting elements are arranged in a straight line is cited.

  As one of the line light sources composed of a large number of light emitting elements, a line light source in which LEDs are arranged in a straight line is known (for example, see Patent Document 3). LEDs have high light output efficiency with respect to input energy, and can reduce costs compared to lasers and the like. When such a line light source is used, the light emitted from the LEDs is linearly collected on the image recording medium by a cylindrical lens or the like arranged parallel to the LED arrangement direction, and the light is collected. The image information is read by sub-scanning exposure using the line light.

  However, in the reading exposure apparatus using such a line light source, the line of light is read by optical means such as a cylindrical lens without limiting the spread angle of the reading light emitted from each LED with respect to the longitudinal direction of the line light source. Since the light is condensed in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the light source and is irradiated as line light onto the electrostatic recording body, the focus position varies. For this reason, on the image recording medium, in-focus light and unfocused light are mixed, flare increases, and the line width becomes wide.

  The present inventor has proposed a reading exposure apparatus as shown in FIG. 7 in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-208607 in order to narrow the line width of the reading light. FIG. 7A is a side view of the reading exposure apparatus as seen from the direction (Y direction) perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the line light source, and FIG. 7B is an XY sectional view of the reading exposure apparatus. is there. This reading exposure apparatus includes a line light source 130 in which a plurality of surface-emitting LED chips 130a, 130b, 130c,... Are linearly arranged, and an opening 102a extending in the longitudinal direction (Z direction) of the line light source 130. 8 has passed through the slit portion 102, the hole array 103, the hole array 103 having holes 103a, 103b, 103c,... At positions corresponding to the LED chips 130a, 130b, 130c,. Cylindrical lenses 104 and 105 are used to form an image on the electrostatic recording body 10 provided on the glass substrate 6.

  The slit portion 102 restricts the emission region of the reading light in the Y direction, and the hole array 103 restricts the spread angle of the reading light L in the Z direction. That is, the reading light L output from each of the LED chips 130a, 130b, 130c,... Is restricted in the exit region in the Y direction by the slit portion 102, the spread angle in the Z direction is restricted by the hole array 103, and the cylindrical lens 104 and The light is condensed in the Y direction by 105 and irradiated onto the electrostatic recording body 10, and the electrostatic recording body 10 is irradiated linearly.

According to such a reading exposure apparatus, by providing the hole array 103, the spread angle of the reading light L emitted from the line light source 130 in the longitudinal direction of the line light source becomes narrow, so that there is little variation in focus position. Thus, flare is reduced and the line width is reduced.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-012429 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-105297 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-290228 “A Method of Electronic Readout of Electrophotographic and Electroradiographic Image”; Journal of Applied photographic Engineering Volume 4, Number 4, Fall 1978 P178 ~ P182

  However, since the material of the hole array is usually a different material from the material of the substrate on which the light emitting elements (LED chips) are arranged, the thermal expansion coefficient of the hole array and the substrate are different. For this reason, if the temperature deviates from the reference temperature used when designing the hole array, the position of each light emitting element and the corresponding hole are deviated, and there is a hole in the position corresponding to the light emitting element. However, there is a problem in that the light intensity of the reading light in the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged may vary greatly.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and includes a line light source having a large number of light-emitting elements arranged in a straight line. Even when the temperature changes, the line width is narrow and the light-emitting element array is provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reading exposure apparatus capable of irradiating an image recording medium with reading light with little variation in light intensity in the installation direction.

The exposure apparatus for reading according to the present invention causes the reading light to be exposed to the image recording medium when the image information is read by scanning and exposing the image recording medium on which the image information is previously recorded with reading light. Exposure apparatus,
A line light source having a large number of light emitting elements arranged in a straight line;
Optical means for condensing the reading light emitted from each of the light emitting elements in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements;
A plurality of partition plates arranged in parallel to each other in the row direction of the light emitting elements and subjected to an antireflection treatment at a pitch narrower than the pitch of the light emitting elements, and the partition plates separate the light emitting elements from the light emitting elements. A narrow pitch louver is provided that limits the spread angle of the emitted reading light in the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged .

  The narrow pitch louver is a structure in which a plurality of partition plates are arranged in parallel in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged, and each partition plate is formed of a light shielding member. Is. Further, the space between the partition plates may be a simple space, or may be filled with a substance having high permeability to the reading light.

  The partition plate pitch may be 1/4 or less of the light emitting element pitch.

  The light emitting element may be an LED.

  A conductive film that is substantially transparent to the reading light and is grounded may be provided between the line light source and the image recording medium.

  The image recording medium may be an electrostatic recording body that records image information as an electrostatic latent image and generates a current corresponding to the electrostatic latent image by scanning exposure with the reading light. Alternatively, it may be an accumulative phosphor that accumulates and records image information and scan-exposes with the reading light to generate stimulated emission light according to the image information.

  In the above, “reading light” is not limited to so-called light such as infrared light, visible light, or ultraviolet light, but may be any electromagnetic wave that can be used when reading recorded image information. It may be of any wavelength. That is, when the image recording medium is an electrostatic recording material, any wavelength can be used as long as it can be used for reading the “electrostatic latent image”. In this case, any wavelength may be used as long as it acts as reading light for emitting the stimulated emission light.

  According to the reading exposure apparatus of the present invention, the line light source having a large number of light emitting elements arranged in a line and the reading light emitted from each of the light emitting elements are orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements. Optical means for condensing in the direction, and narrow pitch louvers in which the partition plate pitch is narrower than the light emitting element pitch, which limits the spread angle of the reading light emitted from each light emitting element in the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged. As a result, even if the temperature changes and the position of the partition plate of the narrow pitch louver shifts, there is no great variation in the light intensity of the reading light in the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements, and the line width is reduced. Reading light that is narrow and has little variation in light intensity in the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged can be irradiated onto the image recording medium.

  If the partition plate pitch is ¼ or less of the light emitting element pitch, the variation in the light intensity in the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements of the reading light irradiated onto the image recording medium is further reduced. In addition, the positioning when the louver is incorporated becomes easy. Further, when the partition plate pitch is 1/10 or less of the light emitting element pitch, the spread angle of the reading light is narrowed, and the variation of the light intensity in the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements of the reading light is further reduced.

  If the light emitting element is an LED, the spread angle of the reading light emitted from the LED having a wide light distribution characteristic can be easily narrowed.

  If a conductive film that is substantially transparent to the reading light and is grounded is provided between the line light source and the image recording medium, noise generated from the line light source is added to the image information read from the image recording medium. The influence can be prevented, and the reliability of the read image information is improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a radiation image reading system using a reading exposure apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1A is a perspective view, and FIG. 1B is an XZ sectional view. As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes an electrostatic recording body 10 formed on a glass substrate 6, and an exposure apparatus 100 for reading that irradiates the electrostatic recording body 10 with reading light L during image reading. And current detection means 50 for detecting the current flowing out of the electrostatic recording body 10 by scanning with the reading light L.

  The electrostatic recording body 10 which is an image recording medium records radiation image information as an electrostatic latent image, and generates a current corresponding to the electrostatic latent image when scanned with reading light. Includes a first conductor layer 11 having transparency to recording radiation (for example, X-rays, etc., hereinafter referred to as “recording light”), and exhibits conductivity by being irradiated with recording light. The charge (latent image polar charge; for example, negative charge) charged in the recording photoconductive layer 12 and the first conductive layer 11 acts as an insulator and has a charge opposite to the charge ( For the transport polar charge (positive charge in the above example), the charge transport layer 13 acting as a conductor, the photoconductive layer 14 for reading that exhibits conductivity by receiving the reading light, and the reading light The second conductive layer 15 having transparency is laminated. The second conductor layer 15 is a stripe electrode in which a large number of elements (linear electrodes) 15a are arranged in stripes at a pixel pitch, as indicated by oblique lines in the figure.

  The current detection means 50 has a large number of current detection amplifiers 51 connected to each element 15a of the second conductor layer 15, and the current flowing through each element 15a by reading light exposure is parallel to each element 15a. It is to detect automatically. The first conductor layer 11 of the electrostatic recording body is connected to one input of the connection means 52 and the negative electrode of the power supply 53, and the positive electrode of the power supply 53 is connected to the other input of the connection means 52. Although not shown, the output of the connection means 52 is connected to each current detection amplifier 51. The details of the configuration of the current detection amplifier 51 are not related to the gist of the present invention, and thus the description thereof is omitted here, but various known configurations can be applied. Of course, depending on the configuration of the current detection amplifier 51, the connection mode of the connection means 52 and the power source 53 is different from the above example.

  The operation of the radiation image reading system having the above-described configuration will be described below. When recording an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic recording body, first, the connection means 52 is switched to the power source 53, and a direct current is connected between each element 15a of the first conductor layer 11 and the second conductor layer 15. A voltage is applied to charge both conductor layers. As a result, a U-shaped electric field having the element 15a as a U-shaped recess is formed between the first conductor layer 11 and the element 15a in the electrostatic recording body.

  Next, the recording light is blown onto a subject (not shown), and the recording light transmitted through the subject, that is, radiation carrying the radiographic image information of the subject is irradiated onto the electrostatic recording body. Then, positive and negative charge pairs are generated in the recording photoconductive layer 12 of the electrostatic recording body, and the negative charges are concentrated on the element 15a along the electric field distribution described above, and the recording photoconductive layer 12 and Negative charges are accumulated at the interface with the charge transport layer 13. Since the amount of the negative charge (latent image charge) accumulated is substantially proportional to the irradiation radiation dose, the latent image charge carries the electrostatic latent image. In this way, the electrostatic latent image is recorded on the electrostatic recording body. On the other hand, the positive charges generated in the recording photoconductive layer 12 are attracted to the first conductor layer 11 and recombine with the negative charges injected from the power source 53 to disappear.

  When reading the electrostatic latent image from the electrostatic recording body, the connecting means 52 is first connected to the first conductor layer 11 side of the electrostatic recording body.

  The line-shaped reading light L output from the reading exposure apparatus 100 passes through each element 15a of the glass substrate 6 and the conductor layer 15 of the electrostatic recording body. Then, positive and negative charge pairs are generated in the photoconductive layer 14, and the positive charge in the pair is attracted to the negative charge (latent image charge) accumulated at the interface between the recording photoconductive layer 12 and the charge transport layer 13. Thus, the charge transport layer 13 moves rapidly and recombines with the latent image charge at the interface between the recording photoconductive layer 12 and the charge transport layer 13 and disappears. On the other hand, the negative charge generated in the reading photoconductive layer 14 is recombined with the positive charge injected from the power source 53 into the conductor layer 15 and disappears. In this way, the negative charges accumulated in the electrostatic recording body disappear due to charge recombination, and a current is generated in the electrostatic recording body due to the movement of the charge during the charge recombination. The current detection amplifier 51 connected to each element 15a detects this current in parallel for each element 15a. Since the current flowing in the electrostatic recording body during reading corresponds to the latent image charge, that is, the electrostatic latent image, the electrostatic latent image can be read by detecting this current. Note that the reading exposure apparatus 100 performs scanning exposure in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and thereby the entire surface of the electrostatic recording body 10 is exposed.

  Next, the reading exposure apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention applied to the radiation image reading system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A is a side view showing the detailed configuration of the reading exposure apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the Y direction (a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the line light source), and FIG. 2 is an XY cross-sectional view of the reading exposure apparatus 100. FIG. The X direction is the traveling direction of the reading light L, and the Z direction is the longitudinal direction of the line light source.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a reading exposure apparatus 100 includes a slit having a line light source 101 composed of a plurality of LED chips 101a, 101b,... Arranged linearly in the Z direction and an opening 102a extending in the Z direction. 102, a narrow pitch louver 110 for limiting the spread angle in the Z direction of the reading light L emitted from each of the LED chips 101a, 101b,..., An ITO film 120 having a thickness of 100 μm, and the reading light L in the Y direction. The cylindrical lenses 104 and 105 function as optical means for causing light to illuminate.

  Each LED chip 101a, 101b,... Has a size of 200 μm × 200 μm, a height of 80 μm, and is arranged in the Z direction at an arrangement pitch of 300 μm. The slit 102 limits the light emitting area of the LED of the line light source 101, and may be a mechanical slit having an opening as in this embodiment, or may be an optical element such as a density distribution filter. It may be a gap.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the narrow pitch louver 110 is composed of a transparent silicone rubber plate 111 having a length of 300 μm × width of 300 μm and a thickness of 63 μm, and a partition plate 112 made of black silicone rubber having a length of 300 μm × width of 300 μm and a thickness of 7 μm. Are arranged alternately, and above and below, transparent silicon carbonate sheets 113a and 113b are attached. Further, each partition plate 112 is subjected to an antireflection treatment to prevent reflection of light within the louver. In the narrow pitch louver 110, each partition plate 112 is arranged in parallel to the XY plane. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and each partition plate 112 is arranged in parallel to the Y axis and in parallel to each other. If it is, it may be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the XY plane. The space in which the transparent silicone rubber plate 111 is disposed may be a space that allows the reading light L to pass therethrough, and is filled with a transparent material with respect to the reading light L or a simple opening. Also good.

  The ITO film 120 is disposed on the silicon carbonate sheet 113a on the upper side of the narrow pitch louver 110 and is grounded.

  The light emission images of the LED chips 101a, 101b,... Are restricted at the opening 102a of the slit 102, the spread angle in the Z direction is restricted by the narrow pitch louver 110, and the light is condensed in the Y direction by the cylindrical lenses 104 and 105 and electrostatically The recording material 10 is irradiated. That is, since the light distribution characteristic of the LED chip is very wide as shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from one LED chip is very wide when the pinhole array does not limit the spread angle in the Z direction. However, in this embodiment, since the spread angle in the Z direction is narrow, the irradiation range by the light emitted from one LED chip is one-several to several tenths of the conventional range. 1 range.

  In general, when the reading light L emitted from one point and spreading in the Z direction is condensed in the Y direction by the cylindrical lenses 104 and 105, the condensing position differs depending on the emission angle. For example, if the electrostatic recording body 10 is disposed on the focal point, if the exit angle is 0 degree, the focus is on the electrostatic recording body 10, but if the exit angle is different, the in-focus position is also different. . For this reason, on the electrostatic recording body 10, light that is in focus and light that is not in focus are mixed, and flare of the read light L condensed linearly occurs. (Y direction) becomes wider. The larger the divergence angle of the reading light L in the Z direction, the larger the flare of the reading light L and the wider the line width. In other words, in the present embodiment, by limiting the spread angle of the reading light L in the Z direction, the flare of the reading light L condensed linearly on the electrostatic recording medium 10 is reduced, and the line width is narrowed. can do.

  Further, since the narrow pitch louver 110 is used to limit the spread angle of the reading light L in the Z direction, the temperature changes, and the positional relationship between the LED chips 101a, 101b,. Even if it occurs, the light intensity of the reading light in the longitudinal direction of the line light source does not vary greatly, and the reading light is emitted with a narrow line width and little variation in the light intensity of the line light source in the longitudinal direction. be able to.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to strictly align the positional relationship between the narrow pitch louver 110 and the LED chips 101a, 101b,..., Variation in light intensity in the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements of the reading light irradiated on the image recording medium. Is less. Further, the positioning when the narrow pitch louver 110 is incorporated is simplified. In the present embodiment, the pitch of the partition plates 112 is set to approximately 1/4 of the pitch of the LED chip, but is not limited to this, and may be, for example, 1/10 or less of the pitch of the LED chip. In this case, the spread angle of the reading light is narrowed, and the variation in the light intensity of the reading light in the arrangement direction of the light emitting elements is further reduced.

  Further, since the ITO film 120 is grounded, the line light source 100 and the image recording medium 10 can be electrically separated, and the image information read out is affected by the noise emitted from the LED chip. The reliability of image information is improved.

  In the reading exposure apparatus of the present invention, an electrostatic recording body using stripe electrodes is used as an image recording medium, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can be applied to any image recording medium as long as it scans with a reading electromagnetic wave and generates a current corresponding to a latent image charge carrying radiation image information.

  In the above-described embodiment, the photoconductive layer records the image enhancement signal by exhibiting conductivity by irradiation of the recording radiation. However, the photoconductive layer according to the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. Instead, it may be conductive by irradiation with light emitted by excitation of recording radiation. In this case, a wavelength conversion layer called a so-called X-ray scintillator that converts the wavelength of recording radiation into light of another wavelength region such as blue light is laminated on the surface of the first electrode layer. As this wavelength conversion layer, for example, cesium iodide (CsI) or the like is preferably used. Further, the first electrode layer and the first insulating layer 12 are transmissive to light emitted from the wavelength conversion layer by excitation of recording radiation.

  In the reading exposure apparatus of the present invention, as an image recording medium, as long as it scans with a reading electromagnetic wave and generates a current corresponding to a latent image charge carrying radiation image information, The present invention can be applied to any image recording medium.

  Next, another embodiment to which the reading exposure apparatus of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the reading exposure apparatus 100 of the present invention is applied to an image reading system for reading an image from a stimulable phosphor sheet. FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the detailed configuration of the exposure apparatus of FIG. 5 and the detection portion of the stimulated emission light M.

  The image reading system includes an exposure apparatus 100 for reading according to the present invention that irradiates a storage phosphor sheet 210 on which radiation image information is stored and recorded in advance, with reading light (excitation light) L, and irradiation of the reading light L. In response to this, the light-excited light M emitted from the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 is collected and detected, and a light detector 220 extending in the direction of the arrow X is detected so that the reading light L does not enter the light detector 220. A reading light cut filter 221 disposed on the incident end face side of the detector 220 and an arrow X direction provided on the surface side of the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 to efficiently guide the stimulated emission light M to the incident end face of the photodetector 220 It comprises an extended condenser mirror 230, sheet conveying means 240, which is a belt conveyor for conveying the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 in the direction of arrow Y, and a signal processing unit (not shown) connected to the photodetector 220. The photodetector 220 includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements 222 arranged in the length direction (arrow X direction), and each photoelectric conversion element 222 corresponds to a corresponding portion of the stimulable phosphor sheet 210. Detect the stimulated emission light (for each pixel). Specifically, an amorphous silicon sensor, a CCD sensor, a MOS sensor, or the like is applied as the photoelectric conversion element 222.

  As the photodetector, a planar two-dimensional sensor disposed on the side opposite to the line light source 101 with respect to the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 can also be used. Alternatively, it may be formed as a one-dimensional sensor and moved in synchronization with scanning of the reading light.

  Next, the operation of the image reading system of this embodiment will be described. The line-shaped reading light L output from the reading exposure apparatus 100 is irradiated onto the stimulable phosphor sheet 210, and the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 is moved in the arrow Y direction by the sheet conveying means 240 (sub-scanning). Then, the reading light L is irradiated over the entire surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet 210.

  From the portion of the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 irradiated with the reading light L, the amount of stimulated emission light M corresponding to the radiation image information stored and recorded therein is emitted. The emitted stimulated emission light M diffuses in all directions, part of which is incident on the incident end face of the photodetector 220, and part of it is reflected by the condensing mirror 230 and incident on the incident end face of the photodetector 220. The At this time, the reading light L reflected on the surface of the stimulable phosphor sheet 210 slightly mixed in the stimulated emission light M is cut by the reading light cut filter 221. The stimulated emission light M condensed on the photodetector 220 is amplified and photoelectrically converted in each photoelectric conversion element 222, and is output to an external signal processing device as an image signal S of a pixel corresponding to each photoelectric conversion element 222. The Also in this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

  Note that the reading exposure apparatus 100 is provided with an LED chip that outputs light having an appropriate wavelength for emitting stimulating light from the stimulable phosphor sheet.

The figure which shows the image reading system provided with the electrostatic recording body using the exposure apparatus for reading of this invention The figure which shows the exposure apparatus for reading by embodiment of this invention Schematic configuration diagram of narrow pitch louvers The figure which shows the light distribution characteristic of the LED chip The figure which shows the image reading system from a stimulable fluorescent substance sheet using the exposure apparatus for reading of this invention Sectional drawing which shows the detailed structure of the exposure apparatus for reading in the image reading system from a stimulable phosphor sheet The figure which shows the conventional exposure apparatus for reading Schematic diagram of pinhole array

Explanation of symbols

6 Glass substrate
10 Electrostatic recording medium
11 First conductor layer
12 Photoconductive layer for recording
13 Charge transport layer
14 Photoconductive layer for reading
15 Second conductor layer
15a element
50 Current detection means
51 Current sense amplifier
52 Connection method
53 Power supply
100 Reading exposure system
101 line light source
101a, 101b, ... LED chip
102 slit
103 hole array
104,105 Cylindrical lens
110 Narrow pitch louver
111 Transparent silicone rubber plate
112 Partition
210 Storage phosphor sheet
220 photodetector
221 Reading light cut filter
222 Photoelectric conversion element
230 Condenser mirror
240 Sheet conveying means

Claims (6)

A reading exposure apparatus that exposes the reading light to the image recording medium when reading the image information by scanning and exposing an image recording medium on which image information is recorded in advance with reading light,
A line light source having a large number of light emitting elements arranged in a straight line;
Optical means for condensing the reading light emitted from each of the light emitting elements in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged;
A plurality of partition plates arranged in parallel to each other in the row direction of the light emitting elements and subjected to an antireflection treatment at a pitch narrower than the pitch of the light emitting elements, and the partition plates separate the light emitting elements An exposure apparatus for reading , comprising: a narrow pitch louver that limits the spread angle of the emitted reading light in the direction in which the light emitting elements are arranged .   2. The reading exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the partition plate pitch is 1/4 or less of the light emitting element pitch.   3. The reading exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting element is an LED.   4. The reading device according to claim 1, wherein a conductive film that is substantially transparent to the reading light and is grounded is provided between the line light source and the image recording medium. Exposure equipment.   The image recording medium is an electrostatic recording body which records image information as an electrostatic latent image and generates a current corresponding to the electrostatic latent image by being scanned and exposed with the reading light. The exposure apparatus for reading according to any one of claims 1 to 4.   The image recording medium is an accumulative phosphor that accumulates and records image information and scans and exposes with the reading light to generate stimulated emission light according to the image information. The exposure apparatus for reading according to any one of 1 to 4.

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