How to Select Cylindrical Lenses

much like spherical lenses do, but in only one dimension. This makes them useful for altering the proportions of an image, either singly or when used in pairs. They can transform a point image into a line image or change the height of an image without altering its width (or vice versa). Applications of this type include anamorphic beam shaping and correcting the elliptical output of a laser diode to create a circular, collimated beam. Cylindrical lenses are used in the source assemblies of many systems, where they generate a line output from a laser. They are also used to gather and focus light onto a linear detector, or for coupling into a slit, as in spectroscopy applications.