To appropriately reduce radiation energy by stimulating a phosphor screen by radiation for stimulation for detecting light emitted from the screen, and carrying out the conversion of a radiation image into signal expression, and exposing the screen to light for erasure to blank it out.

A read unit has an HeNe laser that emits light in 633 nm by a light source 5 for stimulation. On a phosphor screen 7 that can be stimulated by light, a vibration mirror for deflecting light being emitted from a laser source for stimulation in a scan direction is provided, and a light guide 8 for guiding the light emitted from the screen 7 that can be stimulated by light on stimulation to a photomultiplier 9 is provided. The read unit has also a means for moving the screen 7 that can be stimulated by light in a sub-scan direction indicated by an arrow 10. The read unit in a flying-spot type is combined with an erasure unit selectively separated from the read unit so that interference is not generated between read and erasure. The screen 7 that can be stimulated by light is sent to the erasure unit through the read unit, and the line of a read image is successively erased.