A simple stupid question, but it struck me why this idea was never mentioned.
Can wide emitter cavity diodes like the mitsubishi diodes at 638nm be tamed using cylindrical lenses? I'm not referring to the ones used for the 445's but other ones in order to replace the spherical collaminator lens normally used in lasers.
A short FL cylindrical lens say 4mm would be used to focus the fast axis while a longer FL cylindrical lens say 8mm would be used to focus the slow axis i.e. the fast and slow axis are focused SEPARATELY with the cylindrical lenses being oriented perpendicular to each other... Lenses FL and lens thickness can be changed so as to be best suited for the diodes.. Obviously there would be a difference in divergence and the beam would be square and there is a great chance of a strange beam shape, but would such a setup work?