Optical beam shaper and method for spatial redistribution of inhomogeneous beam

An optical system comprising a first array of individual beam shaping elements and a second array of beam shaping elements placed between a light source, e.g., a linear array of individual laser diodes and a reshaped beam receiver, e.g., an optical fiber cable. The inhomogeneous beams emitted from the laser diodes are passed in sequence through the first and second stages so that the first stage reshaped the cross section of the beam, e.g., in the fast-axis direction and the second stage reshapes the cross section of the beam, e.g., in the slow-axis direction. As a result, the output beams of the system may have a cross section reshaped to any desired configuration, e.g., suitable for inputting into the optical fiber cable and having divergences individually adjusted in mutually perpendicular directions.