In the paper, the SLM working as an imaging element in the broadband light was investigated
and the elimination of degradation effects caused by the strong diffractive dispersion proposed.
As the main result, the refractive corrector was designed and implemented, that enabled the
achromatic operation of the SLMin the entire visible spectral region. Specifically, the following
results were obtained:
• The Abbe number involving material and diffractive dispersion was derived and used for
analysis of the SLM action in white-light illumination.
• Optical system having zero optical power for the central wavelength and providing an
achromatic correction of the diffractive dispersion of the SLM was designed, manufactured
and successfully tested in imaging experiments.
• Apochromatic correction of the SLM was discussed and a possibility to reach it in the
infrared spectral region outlined.
Although the correction of the diffractive dispersion can be useful for variety of applications
in imaging and metrology, its main significance can be expected in the FINCH experiments,
where the SLM operates as a beam splitter ensuring holographic recording of 3D objects in
spatially incoherent light [9]. The achromatic compensation of the diffractive dispersion and
successfully elaborated apochromatic correction of the SLM in the visible region represent
an important progress on the pathway towards the white light high-resolution correlation microscopy
outlined in [18].