We have fabricated refractive optical elements in SU-8 resist using electron-beam lithography. Exposing an 8-mum-thick layer of SU-8 resist with a 30 kV electron beam, we demonstrate fabrication of an f/9 spherical lens, an f/2 spherical lens, and a prism with a 3degrees tilt. The elements all perform near the diffraction limit, with rms surface variations between 1/10 wave and 1/7 wave. The electron scattering from the thick resist is measured and shown to limit the technique to optical elements with relatively smooth surface figures. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.