title: Diffractive variable beam splitter: optimal design.
abstract: The analytical expression of the phase profile of the optimum diffractive beam splitter with an arbitrary power ratio between the two output beams is derived. The phase function is obtained by an analytical optimization procedure such that the diffraction efficiency of the resulting optical element is the highest for an actual device. Comparisons are presented with the efficiency of a diffractive beam splitter specified by a sawtooth phase function and with the pertinent theoretical upper bound for this type of element.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettronica, Universitá Roma Tre, and Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borghi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cincotti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santarsiero
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D008027:Light; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*