Optimization of Optical Components for Optical Computer Systems

We analyze several different methods of encoding and calculating optically thin periodic Fourier-transform binary phase gratings and multiple or continuous phase kinoforms for use as e.g. optical fan-out elements in all-optical computing systems. The construction of the gratings and kinoforms is equivalent to the phase retrieval problem which we formulate as a nonlinear optimization problem and solve using different numerical techniques. Typical gratings have very high diffraction efficiency (up to 95%) and high reconstruction accuracy.