Abstract: A method for cancelling or minimizing the effects of diffraction in wave fields in a wide range of imaging instruments such as telescopes, radar, cameras, ultrasound imaging devices and others, or from laser beams, is described, based on the premise that diffraction is associated with the bending of the energy streamlines of a field, so that such cancellation or minimization of diffraction effects is accomplished by shortening the optical path length normal to the aperture systematically by a function D(x) which has the general form of a superellipse with a minor axis of L and a major axis of A/2, where L is the wave-length of the wave-field, and A is the width or diameter of the aperture, so that the bent streamlines of energy flow near the aperture edge are straightened and the resulting diffraction standing wave pattern is cancelled.