Design of binary diffractive microlenses with subwavelength structures using the genetic algorithm.

We present a method to design binary diffractive microlenses with subwavelength structures, based on the finite-difference time-domain method and the genetic algorithm, also accounting for limitations on feature size and aspect ratio imposed by fabrication. The focusing efficiency of the microlens designed by this method is close to that of the convex lens and much higher than that of the binary Fresnel lens designed by a previous method. Although the optimized structure appears to be a binary Fresnel lens qualitatively, it is hard to quantitatively derive directly from the convex Fresnel lens. The design of a microlens with reduced chromatic aberration is also presented.