The beam shaping lens may be formed from any low-loss dielectric.

The edge cutters (14) and the roll-forming units (17-24) are individually controlled.

A process for producing a metal mold for glass shaping provided with a surface coating layer resistant to cracking.

The outer surface beam shaping lenses can be zoned or continuous and can provide elevation patterns with increased gain, cosecant squared falloff, or various other patterns.

For example, these capabilities are well-suited for shape-setting localized regions of austenitic Ni-Ti wire and for stress-relieving and normalizing heavily-worked stainless steel wire.

Generally, vacuum level provided by air cavity chuck may be controlled during conforming of polymerizable material between the template and the substrate and during separation of the template and the substrate.