A conventional diffractive optical element (DOE), which consists of
repetition of a unit pattern , has an advantage of applicability of the
Fast Fourier Transform algorithm to calculate diffraction beam spots
intensities on lattice points on an image plane. But, the conventional
DOE has a drawback of impossibility of diffracting a laser beam off the
lattice points. This invention designs a DOE by giving arbitrary complex
amplitude transmittance {t.sub.mn} to every pixel (m, n), calculating
actual Fourier transform from {t.sub.mn} to intensity W(.alpha., .beta.),
and obtaining intensity of a diffraction beam directing in any .alpha.
and .beta. direction. Since .alpha., .beta. are not necessary to be on
lattice points, the FFT is of no use. Angular resolutions U and V satisfy
inequalities U<.lamda./aR and V<.lamda./bS, where .lamda. is a
wavelength, aR and bS are the size of the DOE. The DOE can produce
multidiffracted beams anywhere on an image and can irradiate a plurality
of arbitrary arranged points simultaneously with high precision. The DOE
realizes precise multispot microprocessing on arbitrary positions, which
is required for producing electronic parts. The DOE is suitable for high
speed and low cost laser processing.