JPH03143069A - Picture reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an inexpensive picture reader suitable for mass production by employing a high polymer optical guide array having the same optical guide performance equal to that of an optical fiber without need of bundling respective optical guide paths with ease of manufacture for a propagation means of an optical beam. CONSTITUTION:An end of a straight line of a high polymer optical guide array 3 integrating a straight line light source 2 and plural optical guides, that is, a light incidence part is arranged under an original picture 1 to be read, a turnable cylindrical turning panel 6 is arranged under the circular end of the high polymer optical guide array 3, that is, the light emitting part 5. Moreover, a photodiode 7 is arranged at part in the vicinity of the circumference of the panel 6. Thus, an inexpensive picture reader suitable for mass-production is realized.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image reading device, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an image reading device, and more particularly, a propagation means for propagating a light beam of image information is a polymer formed by integrally molding a plurality of optical waveguides. The present invention relates to an image reading device that is an optical waveguide array.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as a propagation means of an image reading device, the
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 8406, after bundling and arranging a large number of optical fibers on the same plane, one end is placed on a straight line,
There was one in which the other end was configured in a circular shape.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since it is extremely difficult to bundle a large number of optical fibers with high precision, there is a problem that an inexpensive image reading device cannot be provided.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image reading device that is inexpensive and suitable for mass production.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the image reading device of the present invention uses image information read as a light beam as a propagation means,
A polymer optical waveguide array formed by integrally molding a plurality of optical waveguides is used.

[Operation] In the image reading device of the present invention having the above configuration, image information read in as a light beam is propagated through a polymer optical waveguide array formed by integrally molding a plurality of optical waveguides.

[Example 1] Hereinafter, an example embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, an outline of the configuration of the main parts of the image reading apparatus of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Below the original image 1 to be read, a linear end of a polymer optical waveguide array 3 formed by integrally molding a linear light source 2 and a plurality of optical waveguides, that is, an input section 4 is arranged. A rotatable circular rotary disk 6 is disposed at the circular end, that is, below the emission section 5 . A photodiode 7 is arranged in a part near the circumference of the circular rotary disk 6 .

Each optical waveguide of the polymer optical waveguide array 3 is made of two types of materials with different refractive indexes, similar to already known optical fibers, such that a cladding 3a with a refractive index n1 surrounds a core 3b with a refractive index n2. The relationship is nl < n2. Therefore, due to this refractive index relationship, the light beam incident from the input section 4 is almost totally reflected at the interface between the cladding 3a and the core 3b, propagates within the core 3b, and is emitted from the output section 5.

Next, the operation of the image reading apparatus of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The light emitted from the linear light source 2 is reflected by the original image 1 and becomes a beam based on the original image 1, and the original image 1 is transmitted from the entrance part 4 of the polymer optical waveguide array 3 arranged parallel to the linear light source 2.
It is input as image information for one line. Each light beam incident on each optical waveguide propagates within the optical waveguide and exits from the output section 5, as described above. The emitted light beam reaches a photodiode 7 arranged near a portion of the circumference of a circular rotary disk 6 that rotates at a constant speed. The output section 5 of the polymer optical waveguide array 3 has a circular shape matching the size of the circular rotary disk 6, and when the circular rotary disk 6 rotates once in the rotation direction B, the photodiode 7 is Image information for each line is sequentially received. Furthermore, the linear incident part 4 of the polymer optical waveguide array 3, the linear light source 2, and the circular rotary disk 6 are slid in the scanning direction A, and the entire original image 1 is obtained by repeatedly reading the image information line by line. is read.

Next, a method for manufacturing a polymer optical waveguide array 3 formed by integrally molding a plurality of optical waveguides is shown in FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d).
This will be explained with reference to the following.

First, a base sheet is created as shown in FIG. 3(a). Methyl acrylate with a refractive index of 1.48, which is a photosensitizer, is incorporated as a dope monomer into polycarbonate with a refractive index of 1.59, and a sheet 10 with a thickness of 50 to 100 micrometers is made by melt extrusion (casting). form.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(b), selective photopolymerization is performed by mask exposure. A mask 11 having a pattern that blocks light from a portion desired to be an optical waveguide is placed on the sheet 10 formed in FIG. 3(a), and ultraviolet rays 12 are irradiated. Then, the methyl acrylate and polycarbonate undergo photopolymerization only in the portions irradiated with the ultraviolet rays 12, and the pattern of the mask is transferred to the sheet 10.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(C), unreacted hexamer is removed. When the unreacted residual monomer 13 that was not irradiated with ultraviolet rays in FIG. 3(b) is removed by vacuum drying, only the base material polycarbonate remains in this area, with a refractive index of 1.
59 core 3b. On the other hand, in the area irradiated with ultraviolet rays, polycarbonate and methyl acrylate undergo a photopolymerization reaction and the refractive index decreases, so the cladding 3 with a refractive index of 1.58
It becomes a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(d), the sheet surface is cladded. As the cladding layer 3C in the vertical direction of the sheet 10, a low refractive index acrylic resin having a refractive index of 1.49 is coated.

The above-described fissures form a polymer optical waveguide array 3 having a plurality of optical waveguides each having a width and a height of approximately several tens of microns. The characteristics of this optical waveguide are that it is transparent up to infrared wavelengths around 1.6 micrometers, and
．． It is possible to propagate a light beam with a propagation loss of 2 db/cm (decibels per centimeter).

The polymer optical waveguide array 3 produced by the above manufacturing method is cheaper and can be mass-produced than an optical waveguide array produced by bundling and arranging a large number of optical fibers on the same plane. Therefore, if the polymer optical waveguide array 3 is used,
An image reading device that is inexpensive and suitable for mass production can be provided.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments detailed above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit thereof.

For example, a polymer optical waveguide array formed by integrally molding a plurality of optical waveguides may be manufactured by a method other than the manufacturing method described above.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed description above, the present invention provides a polymer that has wave guiding properties equivalent to that of optical fibers and is easy to manufacture without bundling individual optical waveguides. Since the optical waveguide array is used as a propagation means for the first beam, it is possible to provide an image reading device that is inexpensive and suitable for mass production, which has a significant effect on the industry.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show an embodiment embodying the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of an image reading device, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1. It is. FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d) are diagrams sequentially explaining the method for manufacturing the polymer optical waveguide array of this example. In the figure, 2 is a linear light source, 3 is a polymer optical waveguide array, and 3a
is a cladding, 3b is a core, 3C is a cladding layer, 4 is an incident part, 5 is an output part, 6 is a circular rotating disk, and 7 is a photodiode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image reading device characterized in that a polymer optical waveguide array formed by integrally molding a plurality of optical waveguides is used as a propagation means for propagating image information read in as a light beam.