RIGOROUS ELECTROMAGNETIC ANALYSIS OF DIFFRACTIVE CYLINDRICAL LENSES

A novel two-region formulation of the rigorous electromagnetic boundar y element method (BEM) is developed and applied to practical diffracti ve cylindrical lenses of continuous profile and with discrete levels ( 32, 8, and 2). The performance of these diffractive lenses is presente d for incident waves of TE and TM polarization, for a range of beam pr ofiles, and for normal and nonnormal incidence. An optimum width of th e Gaussian beam is determined. The BEM is shown to be accurate and ver satile, providing the numerical and graphical results that are needed for analysis and design of diffractive elements. (C) 1996 Optical Soci ety of America.