With the reduction in imaging device size, the reduction in size and improved performance have been required for optical scanning devices.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique regarding an optical fiber scanner. This document mentions, in the paragraph 0017 thereof, that “an optical fiber scanner 1 includes: as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an optical fiber 6 that causes illumination light from a light source unit 5 to enter from an incidence end 6a closer to the base end, guides the light in the longitudinal direction, and emits the guided light from an emission end 6b as a tip; a vibration generating unit 7 that vibrates the emission end 6b of the optical fiber 6 in a direction that intersects with the longitudinal axis; and a vibration attenuating member 8 that attenuates vibrations generated”. In addition, the document mentions, in the paragraph 0021 thereof, that “the vibration attenuating member 8 is a cylindrical member for coating, over the whole circumference, the outer surface of the optical fiber 6 protruded from an elastic unit 9, which is composed of a resin material with flexibility; and the vibration attenuating member 8 has, as shown in FIG. 2, a uniformly annular cross-sectional shape, and has a shape that has an identical mechanical characteristic in the whole circumferential direction of the optical fiber 6, that is, the shape of revolution around the longitudinal axis of the optical fiber 6”.
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