Dual-wavelength multilevel diffractive lenses for near-infrared imaging

Abstract Optical imaging systems play an extremely important role for humans in exploring the world, but the existence of chromatic aberration greatly reduces the imaging ability. Conventional optical systems require the combination of multiple lenses to reduce chromatic aberration, but such a solution is not conducive to the miniaturization and weight reduction of the optical system. In this paper, we design dual-wavelength multilevel diffractive lenses that focus pairs of wavelengths on the same focal plane, using a modified direct-binary-search algorithm to maximize the focusing efficiency. The simulated focusing efficiencies are 72% (92%) and 79% (92%) at the wavelength of 1.064 μ m and 1.55 μ m, respectively, for the two-dimensional (one-dimensional) ones. Through this approach, the results presented here suggest good focusing performance at two wavelengths, providing a new opportunity for various applications in dual-wavelength imaging systems and lightweight collimators.