Line-Forming Lens sources these days?

[xanatos]

Looking for a (semi-cylindrical?) lens that'll take a +/- 2mm beam, and give me a nice flat divergence such that it projects a line, rather than a spot. Preferably glass - I could be passing up to 8W of 445nm through it, so I want to have the thing have a fairly high optical damage threshold.

Thanks for any direction. Searching yields very little useful info. Chinese companies that can get me a lens in 20+ weeks, and 10k hits for "laser line levels", so I must be using the least effective keyword possible

EDIT: I think I'm looking for a "Powell Lens"...

 

[RA_pierce]

Yes, you want a Powell lens. A cylindrical lens will not produce a uniform intensity across the line.
I buy optics from Edmund Optics. Expensive, but you can be sure of the quality and service.
You may be able to find what you need on Ebay as well.

 

[Why_you]

Powell for lines of defined angle, Lidar for a 360° line.

Yeah, a Lidar scanner is technically not CW, but if it's just for visuals it's good enough and you can get the scan units dirt cheap on ebay from vacuum robots. Just remove the original laser diode and feed it the 445 nm.