Axicons first appeared by this name in
1954, when all elements that focus light onto the axis were
called axicons. The name "axicon" is a combination of the
Greek words for axis and image. Cone shaped lenses are now
commonly regarded as axicons. Their behavior and design
possibilities are widely studied, yet primarily refractive
axicons are used. The specific conical shape of the axicon
makes them well suited for the generation of so-called
Bessel beams. Lithography techniques have been developed,
which allow for the manufacturing of arbitrary phase
functions on planar substrates. Using this technology, a
diffractive microaxicon can be manufactured if the necessary
phase distribution is known. Therefore, a diffractive
optical approach to axicons is suggested, which can be
fabricated by using laser direct writing lithography. The
manufactured structure is characterized by mechanical and
optical surface measurements. The mainly observed
manufacturing errors and the ideal profile are simulated.
The simulated beam propagation is then compared to its
experimental counterpart. The experimental results coincide
reasonably well with the simulation.