The efficiency of relief-phase diffractive elements at a small number of Fresnel zones

A technique and investigation results are presented on the effect of the number of Fresnel zones on the diffraction efficiency and quality of the wave front formed by a diffractive optical element. Equations are presented for the microstructure reliefs of diffractive optical elements making (regardless of the number of Fresnel zones) the wavefront shape coinciding with the calculated one and ensuring 100% diffraction efficiency at a single wavelength and, in the case of two-layer structures, almost 100% diffraction efficiency in a wide spectral range.