Design of diffractive axicons for partially coherent light

We propose a novel method of designing diffractive axicons for use in spatially partially coherent illumination. The design procedure is based on the results obtained by the stationary-phase method. The technique leads to a coherence-dependent differential equation with appropriate boundary conditions for the axicon phase function. We demonstrate the method with annular-aperture axicons generating extended focal line segments of uniform on-axis intensity.