The vector approach introduced in an early paper for modeling mirror-scanning devices [Y. Li, Appl. Opt. 34, 6417 (1995)] provides the basis of a rigorous study of the scan field generated by a single-mirror beam steering system, in which a hinged movable mirror is able to turn about a fixed pivot point to steering a single laser beam. Because of fewer constraints on mirror angular motion, the system may behave like a true point source for both vector and raster scanning applications. After a summary of the expressions for scan fields generated under different conditions, some fundamental and advanced topics of the single-mirror system are addressed: (1) basic parameters of high-order conic-section scan patterns, (2) scanning spot kinematics, (3) effect of input offset and pixels distortions on two-dimensional images displayed on screens of different formats, (4) mapping and its inverse between the mirror vector space and the scan vector space, and (5) single-mirror beam steering system as a one-element reflective and continuous image zooming device.

© 2008 Optical Society of America

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