Illumination subsystems for multi-spot wafer inspection are provided. One illumination subsystem includes a diffractive optical element configured to separate an illumination light beam into multiple light beams and a refractive lens array positioned in the path of the multiple light beams. The refractive lens array is configured to relay the laser beam waist at the diffractive optical element onto a wafer surface and to separately and simultaneously focus each of the multiple light beams to a wafer for inspection.