Confocal imaging with diffractive optics and broadband light sources

Confocal imaging is a technique used in microscopy and sensing. The use of microoptic technology allows one to build compact integrated confocal systems. Diffractive elements are used to introduce chromatic dispersion into the imaging setup. This allows one to gain depth or spectral information. In this poster, we discuss the performance of a diffractive confocal imaging system and its potential applications. In particular, we will focus on an application in spectroscopy whose impulse response is matched to the spectrum of a specific light source. Matched spectroscopy may be of use in environmental sensing and process control. For the realization of the optics we consider integrated free-space optics using a planar two-dimensional layout.