Appeal No. 1999-0360
Application No. 08/810,591
33. A method for affecting the desired optical
characteristics of an optical system using phase
active diffractive optics comprising:
directing incident light onto a material whose
index of refraction is continuously and spatially
variable over a surface area of the material,
passage of the incident light through the material
affecting the phase and amplitude of the light
waveform;
determining an optical map for said surface of
said material, said map comprising variations in the
index of refraction over the surface of said
material, and said map representing any of a range
of refractive, diffractive, or composite optical
elements whereby said material emulates a selected
optical element; and,
continuously controlling the phase of said
incident light across a wavefront of said light
waveform by dynamically writing said map onto said
material to map said material such that said
incident light’s passage through said material
corresponds to the passage of said light through the
optical element currently being emulated by said
material, the phase of said waveform being
continuously controllable from a phase depth of zero
to a phase depth substantially greater than 2p,
whereby emergent light from the material has similar
amplitude and phase characteristics as if the
incident light had passed through said refractive,
diffractive, or composite optical element being
emulated, the controlling operations and the
determining of said optical mapping implement the
optical transfer function:
2
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