Rigorous diffraction theory of binary optical interconnects

Electromagnetic diffraction theory is applied to the analysis and synthesis of grating devices that generate equal-intensity spot arrays. Types of devices considered include diffractive lenslet arrays and array generators based on the fractional Talbot effect, but the emphasis is on binary and multilevel Fourier-domain grating interconnects. Reconstruction fidelity of all these components is analyzed as a function of the period-to-wavelength ratio, and the domain of validity of the scalar theoretic design algorithms is determined. First results are given on the application of the electromagnetic theory to the synthesis problem of binary resonance domain array generators, and preliminary experimental results are provided using millimeter-range radio waves.