PLANAR HOLOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS WITH UNIFORM DIFFRACTION EFFICIENCY

A planar holographic lens is investigated for imaging applications. Th e design and recording of the holographic lens are based on a transfer ence of wavefronts method, where a desired grating function, with low aberrations, is transferred from a thin hologram to one recorded in th ick recording materials. The resulting thick, planar holographic lens fulfills the Bragg condition over a relatively large field of view. Ex perimental results, presented for planar holographic lenses recorded i n photopolymers and dichromated gelatin materials, show that a high di ffraction efficiency greater than 50% and uniform over a field of view of 16 degrees can be obtained.