Patent ID: 7289269

Claim:
An arrangement for superimposing ray bundles, comprising: a) a plurality of individual radiation sources, wherein each radiation source is configured to emit a ray bundle being substantially linearly polarized and having a direction of polarization associated therewith, and wherein the individual radiation sources are arranged on at least one curve surrounding a source axis; b) a ray forming and focusing optics that combines the ray bundles at a superimposition point which is positionable on a work piece, wherein the ray forming and focusing optics has an optical axis that coincides with the source axis; c) a reflecting surface that has a polarization-dependent reflection capability and is arranged in the ray path of each ray bundle; wherein, for each ray bundle, the direction of polarization is aligned so that a first reflection of the ray bundle at the reflecting surface, before the ray bundle has been reflected at the work piece, takes place with a first optical loss, and a second reflection of the ray bundle at the reflecting surface, after the ray bundle has been elliptically polarized when being reflected at the work piece, takes place with a second optical loss which is greater than the first optical loss.