[摘要]:The influence of narcissus effect for multilayer diffractive optical elements (MLDOEs) is evaluated from the viewpoint of diffraction efficiency and the narcissus intensity. A modified paraxial evaluation criterion for the reflected narcissus radiation of MLDOEs has been deduced. A practical 8-12 mu m IR optical system designed with one two-layer diffractive element has been given to illustrate the distribution of incident narcissus energy among various diffraction orders in the waveband. The narcissus intensities of the two diffractive surfaces have been calculated for those diffraction orders that have the maximum diffraction efficiency. This method can be used in the process of evaluation and control of the narcissus influence in IR optical systems with MLDOEs. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America