Diffractive optical element, design method thereof and application thereof to solar cell

Abstract

Disclosed are a diffractive optical element, a design method thereof and the application thereof in a solar cell. The design method for a design modulation thickness of a sampling point of the diffractive optical element comprises: calculating the modulation thickness of the current sampling point for each wavelength component; obtaining a series of alternative modulation thicknesses which are mutually equivalent for each modulation thickness, wherein a difference between the corresponding modulation phases is an integral multiple of 2; and selecting one modulation thickness from the alternative modulation thicknesses of each wavelength to determine the design modulation thickness of the current sampling point. In an embodiment, the design method introduces a thickness optimization algorithm into a Yang-Gu algorithm. The design method breaks through limitations to the modulation thicknesses/modulation phases in the prior art and increases the diffraction efficiency, and the obtained diffractive optical element facilitates mass production by a modern photolithographic technique, which greatly reduces the cost. The diffractive optical element may also be applied to the solar cell, which provides an efficient and low-cost way for solar energy utilization.

Claims

1. A method of making a diffractive optical element by a photolithography process, wherein said diffractive optical element is configured to color-separate and focus a plurality of selected wavelength components of an incident sunlight beam on an output plane and wherein said diffractive optical element is designed by a method comprising: obtaining design modulation thicknesses at a plurality of sampling points of the diffractive optical element, the diffractive optical element being disposed at an input plane of an optical system and configured to modulate phase of an incident light beam having a plurality of wavelength components so as to obtain a desired optical distribution on an output plane; and, for each sampling point of the diffractive optical element: Step 1: calculating a modulation thickness for each wavelength component at a current sampling point of the diffractive optical element, and accordingly obtaining a respective plurality of modulation thicknesses corresponding to the plurality of wavelength components; Step 2: obtaining a series of mutually-equivalent alternative modulation thicknesses for each modulation thickness, the series of mutually-equivalent alternative modulation thicknesses being corresponding to a respective series of modulation phases mutually different by an integer multiple of 2; Step 3: selecting a modulation thickness from the alternative modulation thicknesses of each wavelength component, and determining a design modulation thickness of the current sampling point based on a respective plurality of selected modulation thicknesses corresponding to the plurality of wavelength components; and designing the diffractive optical element by the design modulation thickness representing the thickness of the diffractive optical element at the current sampling point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in Step 1 the modulation thickness is calculated by using Yang-Gu algorithm.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Yang-Gu algorithm comprises an iterative cycle consisting of multiple iterations, and the modulation thickness in the current iteration is obtained during each iteration.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein Step 2 and Step 3 are performed for the modulation thickness obtained in the current iteration.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a final modulation thickness is obtained at the end of the iterative cycle of the Yang-Gu algorithm, and then Step 2 and Step 3 are performed for the final modulation thickness.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a modulation phase corresponding to the modulation thickness in Step 1 is less than 2.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein in Step 2 a maximum value of the alternative modulation thicknesses is constrained according to a limitation of the photolithography process for making the diffractive optical element.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the limitation is a maximum etching depth of the photolithography process.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein in Step 3 a criterion for the selecting is to make the differences between the plurality of selected modulation thicknesses as small as possible, or to make the plurality of selected modulation thicknesses have a minimum error as compared with the design modulation thickness determined by the plurality of selected modulation thicknesses.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired optical distribution comprises an optical distribution of color-separating and focusing the wavelength components of the incident light beam on the output plane.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the design modulation thickness of at least one sampling point of the diffractive optical element enables the sampling point to modulate the phase of each wavelength component of the plurality of wavelength components with a modulation amount of greater than 2.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the desired optical distribution comprises an optical distribution of color-separating and focusing the wavelength components of the incident light beam on the output plane.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows an illustrative optical system, wherein a diffractive optical element performs color-separating and focusing functions for the incident light beam simultaneously;

(2) FIG. 2 illustrates an algorithm diagram for calculating design modulation thickness of the diffractive optical element based on Yang-Gu algorithm, wherein a thickness optimization algorithm according to the present invention is used;

(3) FIG. 3 illustrates an illustrative flow chart of the thickness optimization algorithm according to the present invention;

(4) FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified illustrative view of a solar cell.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(5) Design Ideas of a Diffractive Optical Element According to the Present Invention As shown in the illustrative optical system of FIG. 1, an incident light beam having a plurality of wavelength components .sub. propagates from an input plane P.sub.1 to an output plane P.sub.2 wherein =1, 2, 3, . . . N.sub., N.sub.represents the number of different wavelengths, and N.sub. is exemplarily equal to 3 in FIG. 1. The diffractive optical element 1 is adhered to the input plane P1 to modulate the phase of the incident light beam so as to obtain output light on the output plane P2, where the plurality of wavelength components are color-separated and focused. In FIG. 1, locations of .sub.1, .sub.2 and .sub.3 respectively represent focusing positions or areas where light wave of the corresponding wavelength components are respectively focused on the output plane P2.

(6) Regarding the wavelength .sub., its incident light wave is modulated by the diffractive optical element 1, and then has an input wave function denoted by U.sub.1 on the input plane P1 and has an output wave function denoted by U.sub.2 on the output plane P2. The wave functions are generally complex, so U.sub.1 and U.sub.2 may be respectively expressed as:
U.sub.1=.sub.1exp[i.sub.1](1)
U.sub.2=.sub.2exp[i.sub.2](2)
wherein .sub.1 and .sub.1 are respectively an amplitude and a phase of the input wave function U.sub.1, and .sub.2 and .sub.2 are respectively an amplitude and a phase of the output wave function U.sub.2.

(7) Relationship between the output wave function U.sub.2 and the input wave function U.sub.1 may be expressed as:
U.sub.2=.sub.U.sub.1(3)
wherein the operator .sub. represents a propagation operator indicating light wave propagates from the input plane to the output plane. For example, when it is a free space between the input plane and the output plane, .sub. represents free propagation effect of light wave; when there are other optical elements between the input plane and the output plane, .sub. also contains optical effects of these optical elements.

(8) On an occasion of using the diffractive optical element to perform phase modulation for the incident light beam in order to obtain the required output light, the amplitude .sub.1 of the input wave function U.sub.1 and the amplitude .sub.2 of the output wave function U.sub.2 may be considered as having been known. The propagation operator .sub. is also known for a definite optical system. Therefore, for such an occasion, the designing of the diffractive optical element DOE is in fact how to solve the phase .sub.1 of U.sub.1 in the case that p.sub.l, p.sub.2 and .sub. are known. When we suppose that the incident light beam have the same phase before modulation by the diffractive optical element, the phase .sub.1 will represent the modulation phase of the diffractive optical element and thus the modulation thickness of the diffractive optical element may be calculated.

(9) To solve the phase .sub.1, a distance D is introduced in the Yang-Gu algorithm and defined as:
D.sup.2=U.sub.2.sup.0.sub.U.sub.1.sup.2 (4)
wherein, the operator . . . represents obtaining the modulus of a complex number, and represents a target amplitude on the output plane. U.sub.2.sup.0=.sub.2.sup.0 exp(i.sub.2), .sub.2.sup.0 represents a target amplitude on the output plane.

(10) Regarding the formula (4), when requesting that .sub.1 D.sup.2=0 and .sub.2 D.sup.2=0, the following may be obtained:
.sub.2=arg[.sub..sub.1exp[i.sub.1](5)
.sub.1=arg{.sub.D.sup.D[.sub..sup.+.sub.2.sup.0exp(i.sub.2).sub.ND.sub.1exp(i.sub.1)]}(6)
wherein, .sub.=.sub..sup.+.sub. is a product of .sub..sup.+ and .sub., .sub..sup.+ represents the conjugate transpose of .sub.; .sub.D represents a matrix formed by diagonal elements in matrix .sub., .sub.ND represents a matrix formed by non-diagonal elements in matrix .sub.; arg represents solving the argument of a complex number, namely, solving the phase of the complex amplitude here. The modulation phase .sub.1 may be solved according to the formulas (5) and (6) by numerical iteration operation.

(11) According to relationship between the modulation phase and the modulation thickness of the diffractive optical element:
.sub.1=2(n.sub.1)h.sub.1/.sub.(7)
the modulation thickness h.sub.1 may be obtained according to the solved modulation phase .sub.1, wherein n.sub. is a refractive index of the diffractive optical element corresponding to the wavelength of .sub..

(12) As such, by means of the above calculations, a corresponding modulation thickness h.sub.1 may be solved for each wavelength .sub. of N.sub. different wavelengths.

(13) In actual design of the diffractive optical element, to facilitate calculation, a plurality of sampling points are set at the diffractive optical element, and the modulation thickness h.sub.1 thereof is calculated for each sampling point. In this way, h.sub.1 with a total number of N.sub. corresponding to N.sub. wavelengths may be obtained for a specific sampling point, wherein =1, 2, 3, . . . , N.sub..

(14) Obviously, there can be only one thickness for each sampling point for the finally-designed diffractive optical element. Therefore, one final design modulation thickness h.sub.1 needs to be determined according to the obtained N.sub. modulation thicknesses h.sub.1. Apparently, it is desirable that the final design modulation thickness h.sub.1 is generally approximate to each design modulation thickness h.sub.1. Usually, an intermediate value or an average value of the calculated N.sub. modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 is taken as the final design modulation thickness h.sub.1.

(15) It should be pointed out that the above method substantially describes a method of obtaining the design modulation thickness of the diffractive optical element by Yang-Gu algorithm in the prior art.

(16) However, as stated in the Background of the Invention, a very high signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained when the diffractive optical element obtained by such a method is used for the color-separating and focusing of the multi-wavelength incident light beam, but an overall diffraction efficiency is very low, only up to 10%-20%.

(17) The Inventors of the present application finds out that at least one reason for the lower diffraction efficiency is that the final design modulation thickness h.sub.1 determined by N.sub. modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 in the prior art is not ideal enough yet. During actual numerical calculation, upon processing the formula (6), arg operation will cause .sub.1 to be in a range of 0.sub.1<2. As known from the formula (7), this is equivalent to limiting the range of the modulation thickness h.sub.1 to a range 0h.sub.1<.sub./(n.sub.1). In fact, when .sub.1 takes values different by an integer multiple of 2, namely, .sub.1=.sub.1+2K(K=0,1,2,3, . . . ), i.e., the modulation thickness takes the following values,
h.sub.1h.sub.1+K h.sub.1, wherein K=0,1,2,3, . . . , h.sub.1=.sub./(n.sub.1) (8)
phase modulations performed by them to the incident light beam are equivalent to each other.

(18) The Inventors also finds out that a more desirable design modulation thickness h.sub.1 might be obtained by regarding each of a series of equivalent modulation thicknesses listed in the formula (8) as an alternative modulation thickness of h.sub.1. Illustration is presented by taking a simple incident light beam with two different wavelength components .sub.1 and .sub.2 as an example. At a certain sampling point of the diffractive optical element, when the method in the prior art is employed, the modulation thickness corresponding to the wavelength .sub.1 is h.sub.11, the modulation thickness corresponding to the wavelength .sub.2 is h.sub.12, and h.sub.11<h.sub.12, then the final design modulation thickness may be an average value of the two modulation thicknesses h.sub.1(h.sub.11+h.sub.12)/2, and each of h.sub.11 and h.sub.12 differs from h.sub.1 by (h.sub.12h.sub.11)/2. When the modulation thicknesses corresponding to the wavelengths .sub.1 and .sub.2 are selected from the equivalent thicknesses h.sub.11=(h.sub.11+m h.sub.11), h.sub.12=(h.sub.12+n h.sub.12), m,n=0,1,2,3, . . . , the final design modulation thickness similarly may be h.sub.1=(h.sub.11+m h.sub.11+h.sub.12+n h.sub.12)/2, and each of h.sub.11 and h.sub.12 differs from h.sub.1 by |h.sub.12h.sub.11m h.sub.11+n h.sub.12|/2. In some situations, such difference will be smaller than the previous (h.sub.12h.sub.11)/2, which indicates that the selected design modulation thickness h.sub.1 is closer to the modulation thicknesses h.sub.11 and h.sub.12 for the wavelengths .sub.1 and .sub.2, so h.sub.1 is more desirable than h.sub.1. This also applies to the situation in which the incident light beam contains more wavelength components.

(19) Therefore, in the present invention, the modulation thickness .Math.h.sub.1 for the wavelength .sub. at a certain sampling point may be chosen from the series of alternative values shown in formula (8), and it may be expected to obtain the final design modulation thickness at the sampling point by a suitable modulation thickness selected from these alternative values. This may be called thickness optimization algorithm in the present invention.

Specific Examples of Design Method of Diffractive Optical Element According to the Present Invention

(20) FIG. 2 illustrates a specific example of iteration calculation for calculating the modulation thickness of the diffractive optical element according to the present invention.

(21) As shown in FIG. 2, in step 201, an initial value is assigned to the design modulation thickness at each of the sampling points on the diffractive optical element. To facilitate the description of the iteration procedure, h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) is used to identify the design modulation thickness at a certain sampling point, wherein the superscripts (m,n) respectively represent the numbers or tags of iterations of outer loop and inner loop during iteration operation, which will be clear in the following description. When the diffractive optical element is set with N.sub.1 number of sampling points, each of the N.sub.1 sampling points shall be set with an respective initial thickness h.sub.1.sup.(0,0) for the design modulation thickness h.sub.1.

(22) In step 202, a modulation phase .sub.1.sup.(m,n) corresponding to the current design modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) or each of the different wavelengths .sub. is obtained according to the formula (7), wherein =1, 2, 3, . . . , N.sub., and N.sub. represents the number of different wavelengths.

(23) In step 203, a phase .sub.2.sup.(m) at each of sampling points on the output plane is obtained for each of the different wavelengths .sub. according to the formula (5).

(24) In step 204, a decision is made as to whether the condition shown in formula (9) is satisfied according to the current .sub.1.sup.(m,n) or whether the number m of the outer loop iterations reaches a preset maximum m.sub.MAX,

(25) $\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{SSE}{\mathrm{.Math.}}_1\mathrm{wherein},\mathrm{SSE}=\underset{j}{.Math.}{\left(.Math.{\hat{G}}_{}{}_1\exp \left[{}_1^{\left(m,n\right)}\right].Math.-{}_2^0\right)}^2,& \left(9\right)\end{array}$
.sub.1 is a preset small value, represents solving the modulus of a complex number, j indicates different sampling points on the diffractive optical element, and the summation symbol represents summating for all sampling points j from 1 to N.sub.1.

(26) If the formula (9) is satisfied or the number m of the outer loop iterations reaches the preset maximum m.sub.MAX, the flow proceeds to step 205, otherwise proceeds to step 206.

(27) In step 206, a next iteration value .sub.1.sup.(m,n+1) is calculated by the formula (6) according to the current .sub.1.sup.(m,n) and .sub.2.sup.(m). It should be noted that the value of the modulation phase .sub.1.sup.(m,n+1) here is in a range of 0.sub.1<2.

(28) In step 207, a decision is made as to whether the condition shown in formula (10) is satisfied according to the current .sub.1.sup.(m,n+1) and .sub.1.sup.(m,n) or whether the number n of the inner loop iterations reaches a preset maximum n.sub.MAX,

(29) $\begin{array}{cc}\underset{j}{.Math.}\left[{}_1^{\left(m,n+1\right)}-{}_1^{\left(m,n\right)}\right]{\mathrm{.Math.}}_2& \left(10\right)\end{array}$
wherein j indicates different sampling points on the diffractive optical element, the summation symbol represents summating for all sampling points j from 1 to N.sub.1, and .sub.2 is a preset small value.

(30) When the formula (10) is satisfied or the number n of the inner loop iterations reaches the preset maximum m.sub.MAX, the flow proceeds to step 208. Otherwise, the flow returns to step 206 in which the next iteration value of .sub.1 is calculated iteratively again according to the current .sub.1.sup.(m,n+1) and .sub.2.sup.(m) until the formula (10) in step 207 is satisfied or the number n of the inner loop iterations reaches the preset maximum n.sub.MAX.

(31) Step 206 and step 207 constitute the inner loop of the aforesaid iteration operation.

(32) In step 208, the value of the current .sub.1.sup.(m,n+1) is assigned to .sub.1.sup.(m+1,n), and then the iteration tag n of the inner loop may be reset to zero.

(33) In step 209, the modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) corresponding to the modulation phase .sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) for the wavelength .sub. is obtained by the formula (7), wherein =1, 2, 3, . . . , N.sub., and N.sub. represents the number of different wavelengths. Noticeably, as the value of .sub.1 is in a range of 0.sub.12, the range of the modulation phase .sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) corresponding to the modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) is the same as that of .sub.1.

(34) In step 210, an optimized design modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) is obtained by the thickness optimization algorithm according to the modulation thicknesses h.sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) for respective wavelengths obtained in step 209.

(35) Then, step 202 is performed using the current design modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m+1,n), to start the iteration procedure of a new outer loop until the formula (9) in step 204 is satisfied or the number m of the outer loop iterations reaches the preset maximum m.sub.MAX, and then the flow proceeds to step 205.

(36) In step 205, recorded is the phase .sub.1.sup.(m,n) obtained when the formula (9) in step 204 is satisfied or the number m of the outer loop iterations reaches the preset maximum m.sub.MAX.

(37) In step 211, the modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) corresponding to the phase .sub.1.sup.(m,n) is obtained by the formula (7), wherein =1, 2, 3, . . . , N.sub., and N.sub. represents the number of different wavelengths. Similar to step 209, the modulation phase corresponding to the modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) is in a range of 0.sub.1<2.

(38) In step 212, a final design modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) is obtained by the thickness optimization algorithm according to the modulation thicknesses h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) for respective wavelengths obtained in step 211.

Specific Description of Thickness Optimization Algorithm According to the Present Invention

(39) In step 301 shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 corresponding to different wavelengths .sub. are obtained for a same sampling point of the diffractive optical element, wherein =1, 2, 3, . . . , N.sub., wherein N.sub. represents the number of different wavelengths.

(40) As far as Yang-Gu algorithm shown in FIG. 2 is concerned, these modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 may correspond to the modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m+1,n) obtained in a certain iteration in step 209, and may also correspond to the modulation thickness h.sub.1.sup.(m,n) obtained in step 211. As stated previously, at present the modulation phase .sub.1 corresponding to the modulation thickness h.sub.1 is in a range of 0.sub.1<2.

(41) In step 302, a respective thickness change h.sub.1=.sub./(n.sub.1)may be obtained corresponding to each of the different wavelengths .sub., and the amount of phase modulation corresponding to such a thickness change is 2 as known from the relationship between the modulation phase and the modulation thickness described in the formula (7).

(42) In step 303, a plurality of thicknesses expressed by h.sub.1=h.sub.1+Kh.sub.1(K=0,1,2,3, . . . ) are all regarded as alternative modulation thicknesses for the wavelength .sub.. Although K theoretically may take any non-negative integer, the alternative modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 impossibly take too large values due to limitations of the level of the actual fabricating process of diffractive optical element. For example, if the desired diffractive optical element is fabricated by photolithography process, the maximum etching depth of the photolithography process may limit the range of the modulation thicknesses.

(43) In step 304, a modulation thickness for each wavelength .sub. is selected from the corresponding plurality of alternative modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 to participate in calculation of the design modulation thickness h.sub.1 of step 305. A criterion for the selecting is that the selected N.sub. modulation thicknesses are concentrated in a range as small as possible, in other words the differences therebetween are as small as possible. If the final design modulation thickness h.sub.1 is regarded as an ideal value and the selected modulation thicknesses corresponding to different wavelengths are regarded as measurements, the criterion for selecting may be expressed as how to make the selected N.sub. modulation thicknesses have a minimum error as compared with the design modulation thickness h.sub.1 calculated from the selected N.sub. modulation thicknesses, and an error function may be used as an evaluation criterion in this regard.

(44) On one embodiment, a thickness distance between any two respective alternative modulation thicknesses corresponding to any two different .sub. and .sub. may be defined as .sub.JK=|(h.sub.1+Kh.sub.1)(h.sub.1+Jh.sub.1)|, and the selected ones from the alternative modulation thicknesses of .sub. and .sub. are determined according to K and J taken when

(45) $\underset{\mathrm{KJ}}{.Math.}{}_{\mathrm{KJ}}$
is minimized. In another embodiment, the selected ones from the alternative modulation thicknesses of .sub. and .sub. are determined according to K and J taken when the variance

(46) $\underset{\mathrm{KJ}}{.Math.}{}_{\mathrm{KJ}}^2$
is minimized. In other embodiments, an error function in other forms may also be chosen as the evaluation criterion to determine which alternative modulation thickness shall be selected.

(47) In FIG. 3, .sub.1 is used to express the distance between any two respective alternative modulation thicknesses corresponding to wavelengths .sub.1 and .sub.2, .sub.2 is used to express the distance between any two respective alternative modulation thicknesses corresponding to wavelengths .sub.2 and .sub.3, .sub.3 is used to express the distance of any two respective alternative modulation thicknesses corresponding to wavelengths .sub.1 and .sub.3, . . . . As such, according to the aforesaid embodiment, when (.sub.1+.sub.2+.sub.3+ . . . ) takes a minimum value, a group of modulation thicknesses h.sub.11, h.sub.12, h.sub.13, . . . may be selected. Similarly, when (.sub.1.sup.2+.sub.2.sup.2+.sub.3.sup.2+ . . . ) takes a minimum value, a group of modulation thicknesses may be selected.

(48) In step 305, one design modulation thickness h.sub.1 representative of the thickness of the diffractive optical element is calculated according to the group of modulation thicknesses as selected in step 304. The design modulation thickness h.sub.1 may be an average value or intermediate value of the selected group of modulation thicknesses, or may be obtained by other criteria (e.g., minimum variance).

(49) Steps 301-305 of the thickness optimization algorithm are performed for each sampling point of the diffractive optical element, and then the design modulation thicknesses h.sub.1 of all sampling point may be determined. As stated above, an intermediate iteration value of the design modulation thickness of a current sampling point may be obtained when the thickness optimization algorithm is applied to step 209 and step 210 of FIG. 2; and the final design modulation thickness of the current sampling point may be obtained when the thickness optimization algorithm is applied to step 211 and step 212 of FIG. 2.

(50) When the diffractive optical element is designed according to the design modulation thickness obtained by the thickness optimization algorithm of the present invention, it is possible for the finally designed diffractive optical element that the design modulation thickness at at least one sampling point is configured to modulate the phase of all of the plurality of wavelength components with a modulation amount of greater than 2, i.e., the design modulation thickness at this sampling point h.sub.1>.sub./(n.sub.1), wherein is any one of 1 to N.sub.. This is obviously different from the diffractive optical element designed according to the existing methods.

(51) It should be appreciated that in other variant embodiments of the method shown in FIG. 2, the thickness optimization algorithm may not be employed in the iteration procedure, but used only once after completion of iterations; or the thickness optimization algorithm of the present invention may be used only in the iteration procedure.

(52) Besides, the thickness optimization algorithm according to the present invention may not be limited to Yang-Gu algorithm, and may apply to any algorithm that constrains the modulation phase to less than 2.

Application of Diffractive Optical Element of the Present Invention to Solar Cell

(53) In the case that the diffractive optical element designed by the method according to the present invention performs color separation and focusing as shown in FIG. 1, theoretical analysis and testing of focusing performance are performed for the designed diffractive optical element at a visible light wave band, and its theoretical diffractive efficiency exceeds 79%. Therefore, this allows for an important prospect of applying such diffractive optical element to a system such as a highly efficient solar cell.

(54) FIG. 4 exemplarily illustrates a structural schematic view of a solar cell. The solar cell comprises a single diffractive optical element 1 for color-separating a plurality of selected wavelength components (.sub., =1N.sub., N.sub.=3 in FIG. 4) of the incident sunlight and then focusing them onto an output plane P.sub.2. A respective plurality of kinds of semiconductor materials 2 (three kinds are shown in FIG. 4) are provided at respective focusing areas of the corresponding wavelength components on the output plane P.sub.2, and respectively used to absorb the sunlight having corresponding wavelengths.

(55) Since the diffractive optical element designed according to the present invention substantially improves the diffraction efficiency, more solar energy can be utilized so that the color-separating and focusing diffractive optical element has practical application significance in solar cells.

(56) The above only describes preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art may appreciate that the present invention may have various alterations and variations. Any modifications, equivalent substitutes and improvements within the spirit and principles of the present invention all fall within the scope of the present invention.