Abstract

Many applications arise in optics and other regimes of electromagnetic waves that require the generation of a beam with a specified two dimensional profile. Optical power is provided in the form of a plane or spherical wave having a known amplitude profile. An optical system must then be designed to transform this input into a beam that produces the desired intensity distribution at a plane a known distance away. This distance often falls within the Fresnel diffraction regime of the optical system.

© 1992 Optical Society of America