Laser observation of flying ink jet electrostatically extracted:main results and application to tone reproduction of images

At present, there are several methods for measuring the diameter of droplets of ink jets. The authors have conceived a method by which not only the droplet diameter but also the state of ink jet flight can be determined using the same optical system by changing the light source only. The electrostatically extracted ink jet method using dielectric ink was used for the experiment. In the case of electrostatically extracted ink jet, a liquid thread of continuous flow is generated from the nozzle tip and disperses in corpuscles from the leading edge of the liquid thread. Observation of dispersing ink flight is difficult by any of the conventional methods. In their study, the state of ink from the liquid thread to corpuscles was observed by controlling applied voltage and ink pressure and with the use of an He-Ne laser beam or dye pulse laser beam depending on the observation objectives. Interesting results obtained are reported in this paper. In designing commercial models of printers using ink jets, their observation method presents new aspects for examining the state of flying ink