Abstract

Diffractive elements (DE) allow the manipulation of an electromagnetic wave by diffraction. Dependent on the choice of the diffraction theory employed to calculate the DE, different parts of diffractive optics can be defined. Digital holography is the part that is based on the use of scalar diffraction theory.¹ The transmittance or reflectance of the DE is calculated by geometrical optics and the wave propagation by paraxial wave optics. Of particular importance are the Fresnel- and the Fourier transform.

© 1992 Optical Society of America