Antonio JIMENEZ-CENICEROS and Victor M. CASTANO MENESES

Centro de Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, A. P. 1-1010 Queretaro, Queretaro 76000, MEXICO

(Received May 7, 2002; Accepted June 5, 2003)

A general theory for producing circular gratings using single-beam conical illumination is derived. An equation for a conical-shaped hollow beam is obtained. It is shown that the resulting diffraction pattern is circular and depends only on the characteristic angle of the cone. Some properties, such as symmetries of the equation obtained are presented, as well as a discussion on the possible applications of this theory.

Key words: interference, filters, ring patterns, cone illumination, diffraction