Extending depth-of-field of arbitrary diffractive optics using needle-shaped beam phase modulation

This study presents a phase-modulation technique capable of flexibly extending the depth-of-field (DOF) of any diffraction pattern. This method, deep diffractive optics (DDO), involves integrating a needle-shaped beam phase modulator with a conventional phase pattern design. Our findings reveal that these current DDOs can significantly extend the DOF over traditional diffractive optics by a factor of five. This method holds broad potential for applications in various optical devices, systems, and emerging fields of photonics.