NOVELTY - The system (10) has photovoltaic elements (18,20,22,24,26) that are incorporated in photovoltaic junctions in preset manner so as to attain preset bandgap characteristics. The spectrum splitting, transmissive, diffractive optical elements (28,30,32,34) are optically arranged in series so as to successively and diffractively split the incident light (16) into spatially separated beams (36,38,40,42,44) and spectrally split bandwidth portion. Bandwidth portion is associated with subset of photovoltaic elements and selectively targeted to associated subset of photovoltaic elements.    USE - Photovoltaic system used for converting incident light into electrical energy.    ADVANTAGE - By using diffractive transmission rather than reflection, the corresponding PV of the modules can be in the same plane, hence the overall design, architecture, and manufacture of resultant photovoltaic systems can be simplified. The diffractive optical splitting elements can be fabricated in a variety of forms, so that tremendous design flexibility and capacity for advancement as new manufacturing techniques can be attained. Photovoltaic members with lower bandgap characteristics are tuned to photovoltaically respond most efficiently to spectral slices with lower energy. The optical splitting in one dimension is performed using generalized coupled wave analysis (GCWA), so as to allow the optical splitting and photovoltaic features to be easily designed and selected using a linear distribution model. The model of stacked spectrum splitting optics can be produced easily, as each element can be designed to produce a single, specific spectral slice from the main beam of incident light. The angles between the photovoltaic elements and optical elements relative to each other can be selected to optimize absorption of the spectral bandwidth portion at issue as well as to minimize losses due to reflection.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a method of converting incident light into electrical energy.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a schematic view of the photovoltaic system.    Photovoltaic system (10)    Incident light (16)    Photovoltaic elements (18,20,22,24,26)    Spectrum splitting, transmissive, diffractive optical elements (28,30,32,34)    Beams (36,38,40,42,44)