Resolution limitations for tailored picture-generating freeform surfaces

Picture-generating freeform surfaces are able to generate a picture in a defined plane by incoherent beam shaping comparable to illumination purposes. No classical imaging is performed. Therefore the classical Rayleigh criterion of the diffraction limit cannot be applied. In this paper, we investigate the physical light formation of picture-generating freeform surfaces using Fresnel-Huygens-based simulations. A criterion for the diffraction limit was found. The resolution of such surfaces is significantly inferior to the resolution of classical imaging systems. However, in many cases, such systems are limited by the geometrical resolution. The influence of those two limitations were examined and a maximum of resolution, being limited by diffraction and by geometrical parameters can be found.