A beam steering system, comprising: a first plurality of volume diffraction gratings, each one of said gratings having a corresponding one of a first plurality of grating vectors directed perpendicular to the planes making up the volume diffraction grating, said first plurality of grating vectors being disposed substantially in a first plane, each one of the gratings diffracting optical energy incident thereon from any one of an input direction of resonance to a corresponding output direction; a second plurality of volume diffraction gratings disposed behind the first plurality of volume diffraction gratings to receive the optical energy from the first plurality of volume diffraction gratings, each one of said second plurality of volume diffraction gratings having a corresponding one of a second plurality of grating vectors directed perpendicular to the planes making up the volume diffraction grating, said second plurality of grating vectors being disposed substantially in a second plane different from the first plane, each one of the second plurality of gratings diffracting optical energy incident thereon from an input direction of resonance to a corresponding output direction; and a beam steering arrangement (12,22) disposed in front of the first plurality of volume diffraction gratings configured to select a first one of the first plurality of gratings and a second one of the second plurality of gratings by deflecting a beam of optical energy incident on the beam steering system in a direction selected from a two-dimensional range of directions such that the beam of optical energy is directed to the first plurality of gratings in a direction along an input direction of resonance of a first selected one of the first plurality of gratings and such that the output direction from the first plurality of gratings is in a direction substantially equal to an input direction of resonance of a second selected one of the second plurality of gratings. a first plurality of volume diffraction gratings, each one of said gratings having a corresponding one of a first plurality of grating vectors directed perpendicular to the planes making up the volume diffraction grating, said first plurality of grating vectors being disposed substantially in a first plane, each one of the gratings diffracting optical energy incident thereon from any one of an input direction of resonance to a corresponding output direction; a second plurality of volume diffraction gratings disposed behind the first plurality of volume diffraction gratings to receive the optical energy from the first plurality of volume diffraction gratings, each one of said second plurality of volume diffraction gratings having a corresponding one of a second plurality of grating vectors directed perpendicular to the planes making up the volume diffraction grating, said second plurality of grating vectors being disposed substantially in a second plane different from the first plane, each one of the second plurality of gratings diffracting optical energy incident thereon from an input direction of resonance to a corresponding output direction; and a beam steering arrangement (12,22) disposed in front of the first plurality of volume diffraction gratings configured to select a first one of the first plurality of gratings and a second one of the second plurality of gratings by deflecting a beam of optical energy incident on the beam steering system in a direction selected from a two-dimensional range of directions such that the beam of optical energy is directed to the first plurality of gratings in a direction along an input direction of resonance of a first selected one of the first plurality of gratings and such that the output direction from the first plurality of gratings is in a direction substantially equal to an input direction of resonance of a second selected one of the second plurality of gratings.