A computing simulation routine to model any type of circularly symmetric diffractive X-ray element has been implemented. The wavefield transmitted beyond the diffractive structures is numerically computed by the angular spectrum propagation method to an arbitrary propagation distance. Cylindrical symmetry is exploited to reduce the computation and memory requirements while preserving the accuracy of the numerical calculation through a quasi-discrete Hankel transform algorithm, an approach described by Guizar-Sicairos & Gutierrez-Vega [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, (2004), 21, 53-58]. In particular, the code has been used to investigate the requirements for the stacking of two high-resolution Fresnel zone plates with an outermost zone width of 20 nm.
Keywords: Fresnel zone plate stacking; X-ray wavefield modeling; angular spectrum method; diffractive X-ray optics.