Hans-Jürgen Dobschal

Optical systems design with integrated rigorous vector diffraction

Depending on the specific application of a diffractive optical element (DOE), its polarization impact on the optical system must be taken into account. This may be necessary in imaging as well as in illumination optics, e. g., in miniaturized integrated optics or in high-resolution photolithographic projection systems. Sometimes, polarization effects are unwanted and therefore an exact characterization of their influences is necessary; in other cases a high polarization effect is the goal. It is well known how to calculate the point spread function (PSF) of a single diffractive micro-Fresnel lens. To do the same for a complete optical system with source, lenses, coatings, mirrors, gratings and diffractive elements, a 3D electrical field propagation along the geometric optical path is introduced into the ray-trace based optical systems design software in order to incorporate the entire electromagnetic polarization effects from the source to the image plane. Our software also considers the complex diffraction amplitudes including polarization effects from DOEs provided by rigorous electromagnetic methods. Together with a plane wave decomposition and with the local linear grating assumption, we are able to rigorously investigate the impact of e. g. polarization effects on the PSF of the whole optical system. Using this approach we analyze a hybrid diffractive-refractive microscope objective for mask inspection systems at 193 nm. Additionally we investigate focal properties of a sample diffractive blue laser disc pickup system.

Spectrometer design approaching the limit

The design limits of grating array spectral sensors are discussed. The limit of a grating spectrometer with respect to the resolution is given by the diffraction limit of the grating. To approach the limit for the visible spectral region the entrance slits should reach a width of 2 μm and larger depending on wavelength and numerical aperture. The detector pixel sizes should be in the same range, which is achieved virtually by the discussed double array arrangement with a transmissive, static slit array and detector array. A number of techniques are applied for optimizing the performance as well as for miniaturization. A sub-pixel imaging including a sub-pixel analysis based on the double array arrangement virtually reduces the detector pixel sizes down to about 20%. To avoid the imaging aberrations the spectra is imaged from different entrance positions by the entrance slit array. The throughput can be increased by using a two dimensional entrance slit array, which includes a multiplex pattern or a fixed adaptive pattern. The design example of a UV-Raman spectral sensor is presented including spectral measurements.