The zone decomposition modelling approach to multi-order diffractive surfaces in lens design

James Babington

doi:10.1117/12.3014662

17 June 2024 The zone decomposition modelling approach to multi-order diffractive surfaces in lens design

James Babington

Proceedings Volume 13019, Optical Design and Engineering IX; 130190N (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3014662
Event: SPIE Optical Systems Design, 2024, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Hybrid diffractive lenses are an enabling technology that allow the shaping and control of wavefronts by precisely controlled zone structures, a coherent version of a standard Fresnel lens. They are extremely useful in the medium and long wave infrared spectral regions for performing colour correction, where traditional cemented doublets (that are used in the visible region) are not an option. These surface structures are often modelled not as an actual physical structure, but in a way that treats the surface fictitiously as a phase function on the surface. This makes some results dubious and provides a substantial difficulty in assessing and specifying tolerances. In the current presentation, we review a more physical model based on the ideas of zone decomposition and then show how this may be applied to advantage for multi-order diffractive lenses (where the blaze structure is now an integer multiple of the basic step height). The zone decomposition view is ideal for understanding the diffractive structure on a lens surface. In particular, it allows one to view diffraction efficiency and colour correction in a different manner. With this standpoint, one sees how interpolation takes place from a standard diffractive surface all the way up to purely refractive Fresnel lens. The multi-order diffractive surface sits between these exhibiting both coherence across different zones but also the onset of incoherence, thereby returning to a surface with only refractive properties.

Conference Presentation

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

James Babington "The zone decomposition modelling approach to multi-order diffractive surfaces in lens design", Proc. SPIE 13019, Optical Design and Engineering IX, 130190N (17 June 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3014662

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