Diffractive diffusers at the fabrication limit

Diffractive micro-optical elements gained increasing interest for beam-shaping, e.g., the laser treatment of materials,1 and for illumination systems. The fabrication technologies for diffractive micro-optical elements bring in advance high accuracy and reproducibility, especially of the periodicity of the elements. In monochromatic applications, diffractive micro-optical elements are only restricted by the limits of the fabrication technology.