Agile beam steering using phased-arraylike binary optics.

A method is demonstrated for two-dimensional steering of a laser beam by way of the mechanical translation of two phased-arraylike binary optics elements. The elements are translated over a 320-pum distance, resulting in the steering of a green He-Ne laser (λ = 0.543 µm) over a 6-deg field of view.

Color separation by use of binary optics.

We describe the preliminary design, fabrication, and demonstration of an array of micro-optics that is used to separate colors locally on the focal plane. The 64 x 64 array combines 100 microm x 100 microm, F/2 refractive microlenses with a 17-microm period grating. The microlenses concentrate the incoming radiation, while the grating disperses the radiation according to wavelength.

Dual-sided lithography: a method for evaluating alignment accuracy.

We describe a method for measuring the accuracy of aligners used to align lithographic patterns on opposite sides of a substrate (back-to-front aligners). The method, with minor modifications, can also be used as an aid in performing back-to-front alignments. The method is based on interferometric principles, is insensitive to manufacturing errors, and is simple to implement.

Quantitative comparison of the general Sweatt model and the grating equation.

When using the general Sweatt model for ray tracing diffractive optical elements (binary optics, holographic optical elements, etc.), lens designers must choose an index of refraction that is sufficiently high to avoid significant errors in the ray trace. We derived two new criteria for a sufficiently high index of refraction.

Binary gratings with increased efficiency.

Coupled-wave analysis is used to design binary gratings with high efficiencies (70-80%). The binary designs have grating periods greater than one wavelength but use subwavelength structures within each period in order to achieve high efficiency.

Optimal binary phase-only matched filters.

Many spatial light modulators and computer-generated hologram techniques can very efficiently implement binary phase-only filters. At present, almost all binary phase-only filters are designed by first designing a matched spatial filter and then binarizing it. There is no theoretical basis to expect that such a filter will be optimal.