Sensitivity of diffraction efficiency to period width errors for multilayer diffractive optical elements

摘要

Multilayer diffractive optical elements (MLDOEs) can achieve broadband high efficiency in the hybrid refractive - diffractive optical systems. The reliable performance of MLDOEs requires high precision during manufacture. The microstructure period width errors should be well defined. In this work, the relationship between diffraction efficiency and different period width errors was analyzed with the rigorous electromagnetic method. Compared to results predicted by the most used scalar diffraction method, the effect of period width errors on diffraction efficiency is underrated. The simulation results showed that diffraction efficiency is sensitive to the period width errors. This research provides a reliable method to control the fabrication errors for fabricating MLDOEs. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America