an optical scanning system scans a light beam across a target . a transmissive optical element receives a light beam from a laser light source and transmits the beam to the target . a mechanical oscillator coupled to the optical element oscillates the optical element and causes the transmitted light to scan across the target . the optical element may be at least one transmissive lens with a magnification ratio greater than one . thus the relatively small distance of oscillation of the optical assembly results in a relatively larger distance of scanning across the target . the target may be a photosensitive recording medium having an image forming surface for recording an image and transferring the image to paper .