Patent ID: 8861082

Claim:
An apparatus for providing a light beam comprising: a solid-state laser that is energizable to emit, along an optical axis, a polarized input laser light beam that has a first aspect ratio of etendue R 1 , wherein the optical invariant of the input laser light beam with respect to a first direction is less than half the optical invariant of the input laser light beam with respect to a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction; a first cylindrical lens that is disposed to collimate the polarized input laser light beam with respect to the first direction; a second cylindrical lens that is disposed to collimate the polarized input laser light beam with respect to the second direction; a bisecting reflective surface having an edge that is disposed along the optical axis to split the collimated polarized laser light beam, with respect to the second direction, into a first portion directed along a first beam path and a second portion directed along a second beam path, wherein the first and second beam paths each contain emitted light from the solid-state laser; one or more folding reflective surfaces disposed along the first beam path, along the second beam path, or along both first and second beam paths; a polarization rotator disposed to rotate polarization of the light along the second beam path; and a polarization combiner disposed to combine light from the first and second beam paths to form an output beam, wherein the output beam has a second aspect ratio of etendue R 2 that is not equal to R 1 .