Nonparaxial model for the focusing of high-numerical-aperture photon sieves.

Recently, a paraxially individual far-field model was presented for the focusing and imaging analysis of pinhole photon sieves. By use of a local Taylor expansion of the integrated function of the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula, the small-size property of the individual pinholes, and the linear superposition principle, we extend this model to the nonparaxial case of high-numerical-aperture photon sieves. Some related problems, such as the validity range of this nonparaxial model and the selection conditions for the individual pinholes, are also discussed in detail.