Patent ID: 8026519

Claim:
A line-image-forming optical system, comprising: a primary laser system configured to provide a first laser beam; a beam-conditioning optical system having an image plane and configured to receive the first laser beam and form therefrom a line image at the image plane, the line image having a long axis and a first amount of intensity non-uniformity along the long axis; one of: a) a secondary laser system that generates a second laser beam, and b) a beam-splitting optical system configured to provide the second laser beam from a portion of the first laser beam; and a scanning optical system configured to receive the second laser beam and form therefrom a secondary image at the image plane, wherein the secondary image at least partially overlaps the line image and is scanned over at least a portion of the line image to form a time-averaged modified line image having a second amount of intensity non-uniformity that is less than the first amount.