Optical array method and apparatus

An apparatus for splitting a beam of light into a plurality of output beams, comprising:

• a) a first miniaturized array of at least one binary optical component;
• b) a second miniaturized array of at least one binary optical component, wherein each of said components on said second array maps into one of said components on said first array, whereby sets of corresponding components on said first and second array are defined, and wherein at least one of said binary optical components is offset and the beam of light is split into two or more output beams;
• and
• c) wherein each of said corresponding components of said second array are offset from said corresponding components of said first array, whereby each defined set of corresponding components includes a different offset, whereby output beams having differing directions are created.

An apparatus for splitting a beam of light comprising:

• a) a first binary optical component and a second binary optical component;
• b) wherein said first binary optical component includes a first array of n.times.m identical optical elements and said second binary optical component includes a second array of optical elements which correspond on a one-to-one basis to said first array;
• c) wherein each of said elements of said first and second array defines an optical axis;
• d) wherein each of said optical axes of said elements of said second array are offset from the corresponding said optical axis of said elements of said first array, whereby light is diffracted by said first binary component and is split by said second binary component into a number of beams equal to the product of n.times.m;
• and
• e) wherein each of said elements of said first and second arrays is subdivided into an array of o.times.p sub-elements, wherein each of said o.times.p sub-elements include a predetermined number of identical elements "Q" such that (o.times.p)/Q equals the number of different offsets corresponding to the desired number of output beams.