Abstract

Microcomputer generation of diffractive optical element amplitude functions with corresponding corrections to compensate nonlinearity of recording materials and its restricted resolution power is reported. Nonlinearity of real material optical response has been accounted for by deformation of the initial amplitude function separately for each diffractive zone. Restricted resolution of the recording material was accounted for by providing nonuniformity of the amplitude function to adjust the final phase function of the diffractive optical element record. Such nonuniformity has been introduced through corrections of zone contrast and variations in zones' top and bottom gray level positions. Amplitude masks have been fabricated by reproducing calculated functions through 64 gray levels on a monitor and by photographing them directly.

© 1992 Optical Society of America