the arrow x for thereby recording an image or other information in multiple gradient steps on the thermosensitive recording medium s the thermosensitive recording medium s comprises a transparent support base and a thermosensitive layer disposed thereon the thermosensitive layer comprises a combination of microcapsules containing a basic dye precursor which is a leuco dye and a color developer and light absorbing coloring matters for absorbing and converting the laser beam l into thermal energy for details see japanese laid open patent publications nos 5 301447 and 5 24219 for example the basic dye precursor produces a color by giving an electron or receiving a proton such as of acid or the like the basic dye precursor comprises a compound which is usually substantially colorless and has a partial skeleton such as of lactone lactam sultone spiropyrane ester amide or the like the partial skeleton being split or cleaved upon contact with the color developer the color developer used in combination with the leuco dye comprises a phenol compound a sulfur containing phenol compound a carboxylic acid compound a sulfone compound a urea or thiourea compound or the like the laser beam recording apparatus 10 comprises an image memory 12 for storing two dimensional image data a corrected image memory 14 for storing corrected image data representing the two dimensional image data which have been corrected a processor 16 for determining the corrected image data and a laser.