One of the most important developments in laser diode technology over the past few years has been the introduction of relatively high power (up to 5 W from a single emitter) products with output in the blue. These short wavelength sources offer advantages over their more common nearinfrared counterparts, particularly in applications such as displays and cutting and welding of metals which strongly absorb blue light (such as copper and gold). Unfortunately, the collimating lenses traditionally used for near infrared laser diodes cannot provide optimum performance for these high power blue laser diodes. This limits the potential applications that could otherwise benefit from these unique light sources.