Design of diffractive optical surfaces within the SMS design method.

The Simultaneous Multiple Surface (SMS) method was initially developed as a design method in Nonimaging Optics and later, the method was extended for designing Imaging Optics. We present the extension of the SMS method to design diffractive optical surfaces. This method involves the simultaneous calculation of N/2 diffractive surfaces, using the phase-shift properties of diffractive surfaces as an extra degree of freedom, such that N one-parameter wavefronts can be perfectly coupled. Moreover, the SMS method for diffractive surfaces is a direct method, i.e., it is not based in multi-parametric optimization techniques. Representative diffractive systems designed by the SMS method are presented. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.