Design of multilayer diffractive optical elements with polychromatic integral diffraction efficiency.

What we believe to be a new method for designing multilayer diffractive optical elements (MLDOEs) for wideband with consideration of polychromatic integral diffraction efficiency (PIDE) is presented. The benefit of this method is that the maximum PIDE over the entire waveband for MLDOEs can be obtained. The design process and simulation of the MLDOEs with regard to an example for visible waveband are described, and the comparison of diffraction efficiencies of the MLDOEs for different choices of design wavelengths with different methods is given.