Apparatus for shaping an optical beam bundle carrying a plurality of
substantially parallel optical beams disposed in a common plane of travel.
First reflective facets and second reflective facets are provided, the
first reflective facets being oriented so as to deflect the optical beams
of the bundle into a plurality of intermediate, substantially non-parallel
optical beams. Each of the second reflective facets is spatially disposed
so as to receive a respective one of the intermediate optical beams at a
different respective distance from the plane of travel of the optical beam
bundle. Also, the second reflective facets are oriented so as to deflect
the intermediate optical beams into a bundle of substantially parallel
output optical beams. In this way, the output beam can be more adapted for
a particular application. In certain cases, this also achieves increased
brightness of a laser beam through reduced output beam divergence and/or
total cross-sectional area.
