A super-resolution Fresnel zone plate and photon sieve

Realizing a smaller or sharper diffractive center spot is a valuable research aim in soft X-ray focus and other related research applications. Fresnel zone plates (FZP) and photon sieves (PS) are often used to focus the X-rays or other wavelength light at present. Here, we show that combination of a super-resolution phase mask (SPM) and an FZP (or PS) as one diffractive optical element can realize a smaller or sharper diffractive center spot without significantly increasing the fabrication difficulty. All these diffractive phase elements can be applied to beam shaping, mask-less lithography, energy congregation in high power lasers, soft X-rays focus, and any other field that requires a smaller or sharper diffractive center spot.