You have requested a machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Neither SPIE nor the owners and publishers of the content make, and they explicitly disclaim, any express or implied representations or warranties of any kind, including, without limitation, representations and warranties as to the functionality of the translation feature or the accuracy or completeness of the translations.
Translations are not retained in our system. Your use of this feature and the translations is subject to all use restrictions contained in the Terms and Conditions of Use of the SPIE website.
25 September 2014Multi-functional diffractive optical elements
Diffractive optics has traditionally been used to transform a parallel beam of light into a pattern with a desired phase and intensity distribution. One of the advantages of using diffractive optics is the fact that multiple functions can be integrated into one element. Although, in theory several functions can be combined, the efficiency reduces with each added function. Also, depending on the nature of each function, feature sizes could get finer. Optical lithography with its 1 μm limit becomes inadequate for fabrication and sophisticated tools such as e-beam lithography and focused ion beam milling are required. In this paper, two different techniques of fabrication of composite elements are studied. A comparison of the beams generated in both cases is presented.