Diffraction modeling between arbitrary non-parallel planes using angular spectrum rearrangement

Numerical modeling of diffraction between tilted planes provides remarkable flexibility in computational optics, enabling convenient prediction and manipulation of light on complicated geometries. Specifically it enables, for example, efficient simulation of wave propagation through lenses, fast calculation of holograms for meshed three-dimensional objects, and trapping particles in complicated shapes. However, computational accuracy and efficiency of existing methods are often at odds with each other. Here, we present an approach that accurately and efficiently models wave propagation between two arbitrary non-parallel planes, which is realized by rearranging the angular spectrum of the source field, coupled with a Fourier transform algorithm that does not require zero-padding and uniform sampling. It applies to both scalar and vectorial diffraction modeling, achieving a 10−10 9 times accuracy improvement, depending on different intersection angles. Notably, our method can cope well with orthogonal-plane diffraction, which is inaccessible in previous methods. Moreover, it enables a flexible balance between accuracy and efficiency, providing potential for further acceleration and accuracy enhancement. After theoretical verification, we provide experimental demonstration in computer-generated holography.