Vortex characteristics of Fraunhofer diffractions of a plane wave by a spiral phase plate limited by pseudoring polygonal apertures.

We introduce a multilevel spiral phase plate (SPP) limited by a pseudoring polygonal aperture (PRPA). Such an SPP has the advantages of easier fabrication and greater suppression of the sidelobes of the diffraction field over that generated with a polygonal aperture (PA). The Fraunhofer diffraction fields generated by an SPP with a PRPA or with a PA have the same topological charge features and a similar diffraction pattern. Numerical evaluations show that the maximum bright annular-intensity difference between the diffraction patterns for the SPP with a PRPA and that of a PA does not exceed 3% under optimal design parameters.