Effect of ambient temperature and substrate material selection on diffraction efficiency for diffractive optical elements

A mathematical model of the diffraction efficiency change with the ambient temperature for the single-layer diffractive optical elements (SLDOEs) is presented, and its effects are analyzed in this paper. According to the deduced relation, the SLDOEs made of different substrate materials are discussed in the visible and infrared wavebands in a wide temperature range. The results show that the diffraction efficiency for the plastic SLDOE declines faster at the lower ambient temperature, but for the GE SLDOE declines faster at the higher ambient temperature. The diffraction efficiency change is obviously different with the selection of the substrate material. Therefore, the method of substrate material selection is put forward for the SLDOEs to reduce the impact of ambient temperature. The analysis result can be considered during optical engineering design with the DOEs.