Analysis and design of optical elements with the local plane-interface approximation

摘要

The proper treatment of optical elements in a wave-optical approach is of fundamental concern in optical analysis and design. Various wave-optical simulation methods rely on transmission functions instead of real optical elements. However, to perform the transition into the real world, a proper treatment for real optical structures has to be found. The local plane-interface approximation (LPIA) can be used for this transition. We discuss the region of validity of LPIA and two approximation levels, the geometric-optical version LPIA_(ray) and the thin-element approximation (TEA). Further, algorithms for the design of structures which realize a prescribed transmission function are presented for both approximation levels. This paper acts to give a throughout overview over the local plane-interface approximation. It is based on results published in References~1 and.~2