On-axis beam extinction through diffraction design and analysis

To optimize the functions of the surface-relief diffractive optical elements for optical limiters and other applications, we present a systematic design and analysis with numerical illustrations of the transmission properties of different surface-relief phase gratings and Fabry-Perot elements. The spectral response and the tolerance of fabrication errors have been included. An analysis shows that the blazed grating and the echelon grating, a multilevel element as a substitute of the blazed grating, can make the on-axis transmittance very low (less than 1% with one grating) over the broad visible band with a large tolerance of fabrication errors. The results are highly significant for the design of optical-limiting devices.