Axicon imaging by scalar diffraction theory

Abstract: Axicons are optical elements that produce Bessel beams,i.e., long and narrow focal lines along the optical axis. Thenarrow focus makes them useful ine.g. alignment, harmonicgeneration, and atom trapping, and they are also used toincrease the longitudinal range of applications such astriangulation, light sectioning, and optical coherencetomography. In this thesis, axicons are designed andcharacterized for different kinds of illumination, using thestationary-phase and the communication-modes methods.The inverse problem of axicon design for partially coherentlight is addressed. A design relation, applicable toSchell-model sources, is derived from the Fresnel diffractionintegral, simplified by the method of stationary phase. Thisapproach both clarifies the old design method for coherentlight, which was derived using energy conservation in raybundles, and extends it to the domain of partial coherence. Thedesign rule applies to light from such multimode emitters aslight-emitting diodes, excimer lasers and some laser diodes,which can be represented as Gaussian Schell-model sources.Characterization of axicons in coherent, obliqueillumination is performed using the method of stationary phase.It is shown that in inclined illumination the focal shapechanges from the narrow Bessel distribution to a broadasteroid-shaped focus. It is proven that an axicon ofelliptical shape will compensate for this deformation. Theseresults, which are all confirmed both numerically andexperimentally, open possibilities for using axicons inscanning optical systems to increase resolution and depthrange.Axicons are normally manufactured as refractive cones or ascircular diffractive gratings. They can also be constructedfrom ordinary spherical surfaces, using the sphericalaberration to create the long focal line. In this dissertation,a simple lens axicon consisting of a cemented doublet isdesigned, manufactured, and tested. The advantage of the lensaxicon is that it is easily manufactured.The longitudinal resolution of the axicon varies. The methodof communication modes, earlier used for analysis ofinformation content for e.g. line or square apertures, isapplied to the axicon geometry and yields an expression for thelongitudinal resolution. The method, which is based on abi-orthogonal expansion of the Green function in the Fresneldiffraction integral, also gives the number of degrees offreedom, or the number of information channels available, forthe axicon geometry.Keywords:axicons, diffractive optics, coherence,asymptotic methods, communication modes, information content,inverse problems