Diffraction efficiency analysis of dual-layer diffractive elements with oblique incident angles

Abstract

This paper proposes a method that combines the effective area method and the oblique factors to analyze and design dual-layer diffractive optical elements at large incident angles. The method considers the effects of shadow and shield on the diffraction efficiency, as well as the correction of phase delay due to oblique incidence. The relationships among the diffraction efficiency, incident wavelengths, incident angles and period widths were analyzed with our method. A detailed comparison of the proposed method with the scalar diffraction theory is presented. The method was validated by numerical simulations of vector diffraction theory and showed similar diffraction efficiency distributions at different wavelengths and incident angles. The method provides a simple and efficient way to design and apply DLDOEs.