Abstract

In complex optical systems consisting of many optical components, alignment and stability of those components become critical issues. In a recent paper we proposed to solve these problems by integrating free-space optical components on one side of a planar substrate and propagate the light in a zigzag path between the two sides of the substrates.¹ The optical components can be computer generated and fabricated by lithogrpahic techniques, for example. In this paper we address several problems connected with this approach such as aberrations, light efficiency as well as fabrication issues. For our analysis, we concentrate on diffractive optical elements which are implemented as blazed phase structures.

© 1989 Optical Society of America