the divergence of the beam of the gaalas solid state diode 21 perpendicular to its junction is typically about 40 degrees while the divergence of the beam in the direction parallel to its junction is typically about 10 degrees the angle of divergence of the beam is a function of the size of the laser diode junction 23 as junction size increases divergence decreases the solid state laser diode typically has not been used as an optical source for a laser scanning system because it produces a non circular diverging beam on the contrary a gas laser produces a collimated beam of monochromatic light with a circular cross section and thus has been used for this purpose the spot size of a beam produced from a laser diode is given by the following equation d o 4 u03bb u03c0 f where d o is the spot size u03bb is the wave length of the light beam produced by the diode and f 190 is a measure of the divergence of the light beam equal to the ratio of the focal length to the diameter of the aperture through which the beam is passed with a solid state laser diode the beam divergence of the system differs in the direction perpendicular to the junction compared to the direction parallel to the junction in accordance with this invention a solid state laser diode is rendered usable in a laser scanning system such as used in a laser scanning printer by using a specially designed anamorphic lens system in particular the system employs two cylindrical lenses with different radii of curvature in mutually perpendicular planes these cylindrical lenses are located in different positions in.