Array illumination of a Fresnel-Dammann zone plate.

The traditional Dammann grating is a phase-only modulation, and its theoretical foundation is based on far-field diffraction. Here we extend the traditional Fresnel zone plate (FZP) into a Fresnel-Dammann zone plate (FDZP), which is, in essence, considered as a FZP with Dammann modulation. Different from the Dammann grating, a single FDZP can generate array illumination from the near field to the far field by means of amplitude-only modulation in the absence of phase modulation. We then give some array illuminations operated in a water window to validate the feasibility and validity. This kind of wave-front modulation technology can be applied to array focusing and imaging from the x-ray to the EUV region.