A beam delivery system of a projection exposure system comprises a laser generating a beam of laser light from a plurality of longitudinal laser modes in a cavity, wherein light generated by a single longitudinal laser mode has an average line width λlat, wherein the laser light of the beam has, at each of respective lateral positions of the beam, a second line width λlat corresponding to lateral laser modes, and wherein the laser light of the beam has, when averaged over a whole cross section thereof, a line width λb corresponding to plural lateral laser modes, and wherein λm<λlat<λb, and wherein an optical delay apparatus disposed in the beam provides an optical path difference Δl, wherein
wherein λ0 is an average wavelength of the light of the first beam of laser light, and Δλlat represents the second line width.