ABSTRACT

A significant part of micro-optical technology is based on the use of diffractive structures to control the amplitude, the phase, or the state of polarization of an optical field. In diffractive micro-optics, periodic structures (gratings) play a central role, because most diffractive elements may be treated as gratings at least in some sense. The modulated structure may either be globally periodic, perhaps with a complicated surface-relief or index-modulation profile, or locally periodic such as a diffractive lens. In both cases, grating-diffraction theory can be used to synthesize the modulation profile and to analyze its performance.