Characteristics of Laser Dye Transfer Printing (II)

— Optical Density and Tone Reproduction recorded by Defocused Laser Light —

Abstract

We have been studying the characteristics of laser dye transfer printing which enables the production of continuous tone images of high resolution. In this paper, in order to clarify the influence of the laser intensity profile, optical density and tone reproduction under printing conditions using a defocused laser beam were investigated.
As a result, experimental results of the relationship between optical density and the defocus level show good agreement with simulation results from a simplified model which introduced the idea of effective energy. It is shown that in proportion to increase of the optical spot diameter, density gradation is more dominant than area gradation, and it is possible to produce continuous tone images using a defocused laser beam. By printing standard images, we have confirmed the difference in tone reproduction which depends on the defocus level.