Bifocal diffractive lenses based on the aperiodic Kolakoski sequence

Abstract

Abstract In this work, we present a new family of Zone Plates (ZPs) designed using the self-generating Kolakoski sequence. The focusing and imaging properties of these aperiodic diffractive lenses coined Kolakoski Zone Plates (KZPs) are extensively studied. It is shown that under monochromatic plane-wave illumination, a KZP produces two main foci of the same intensity along the axial axis. Moreover, one of the corresponding focal lengths is double the other, property correlated with the involved aperiodic sequence. This distinctive optical characteristic is experimentally confirmed. We have also obtained the first images provided by these bifocal new diffractive lenses.