Abstract

Tailoring of the transverse intensity profiles of propagation-invariant optical fields is considered. The design of diffractive elements capable of realizing such fields by Fourier synthesis is discussed. High-efficiency realization of finite-aperture approximations of the constructed fields is demonstrated in a system consisting of two multilevel diffractive elements. The first element is a diffractive toroidal lens, which focuses the incident field into a ring pattern. The second diffractive element, located at the focal plane of the first element, introduces the phase modulation necessary to realize the desired transverse intensity profile behind a separate collimating lens. The influence of the fabrication errors of the diffractive elements on the fidelity of the propagation-invariant spot array is simulated, and system-integration aspects based on substrate-mode planar-integrated optics are considered.

© 2000 Optical Society of America

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