Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published November 2016 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

High-contrast self-imaging with ordered optical elements

Abstract

Creating arbitrary light patterns has applications in various domains, including lithography, beam shaping, metrology, sensing, and imaging. We study the formation of high-contrast light patterns obtained by transmission through an ordered optical element based on self-imaging. By applying the phase-space method, we explain phenomena such as the Talbot and the angular Talbot effects. We show that the image contrast is maximum when the source is either a plane wave or a point source, and it has a minimum for a source with finite spatial extent. We compare these regimes and address some of their fundamental differences. Specifically, we prove that increasing the source divergence reduces the contrast for the plane wave illumination but increases it for the point source. Also, we show that to achieve high contrast with a point source, tuning the source size and its distance to the element is crucial. We furthermore indicate and explore the possibility of realizing highly complex light patterns using a periodic transmission element. These patterns can have more spots in the far field than the number of diffraction orders of the periodic element. We predict that the ultimate image contrast is smaller for a point source compared to a plane wave. Our simulations confirm that the smallest achievable spot size in the image is imposed by diffraction regardless of the imaging regime. Our research can be applied to similar domains, e.g., quantum systems.

Additional Information

© 2016 Optical Society of America. Received 16 May 2016; revised 15 September 2016; accepted 2 October 2016; posted 3 October 2016 (Doc. ID 264917); published 27 October 2016. The authors thank Dr. Philipp Mueller for great discussions. This work has been supported by funding in the frame of the CTI project LIMA under project number 14777.1 PFNM-NM. Funding: Commission for Technology and Innovation (14777.1 PFNM-NM).

Attached Files

Published - josab-33-11-2374.pdf

Submitted - 1609.09150v1.pdf

Files

josab-33-11-2374.pdf
Files (8.5 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:6974854ffe9d2a97d2c5fcd58f4cce94
4.1 MB Preview Download
md5:653ffcaab9d517ff292ea1e7f0fe8ad7
4.4 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023