A comparison is made between rigorous numerical results and a recently proposed analytical method for modeling light diffraction by lamellar diffraction gratings. The conclusion is that the analytical model is quite restrained in its applicability and can be misleading in determining the behavior of the grating efficiencies.

A detailed model of diffraction of plane and Gaussian beams on plane uniform phase Bragg gratings based on a Kogelnik's theory of coupled waves is presented. The model describes reflecting gratings (Bragg mirrors) with arbitrary orientation in a plane-parallel plate having no material losses. It takes into account spectral width and angular divergence of laser beams. The results of modeling are...

A new analytical model, derived rigorously from scalar diffraction theory, accurately fits soft-x-ray measurements of symmetrical profile gold transmission gratings in all diffracted orders. The calibration system selects numerous photon energies by use of a high-resolution grazing-incidence monochromator and a dc e-beam source. Fine-period free-standing gratings exhibit limited performance and...

For the first time to our knowledge, we demonstrate the use of self-enhanced diffraction to optically restore weak dynamic volume holograms. This restoration process is achieved through the use of a novel beam-toggling scheme that significantly enhances the steady-state diffraction efficiency of volume index gratings stored in photorefractive media. Experiments demonstrating and confirming theo...

We present a fabrication technique and molecular beam epitaxy MBE regrowth of first-order, high contrast AlGaAs/GaAs diffraction gratings for laser emitting at 980 nm. An immersion holography technique is used to uniformly pattern first-order gratings with a pitch of 155 nm. MBE is used to overgrow Al0.75Ga0.25As on etched GaAs gratings. It is found that slow growth rates with optimum arsenic o...

A holographic Stokesmeter has the potential to be useful in high-speed polarization imaging applications. Highly polarization-sensitive gratings are an important component in a robust holographic Stokesmeter. We demonstrate a set of individual holographic gratings in a thick substrate displaying a high contrast in diffraction efficiency as a function of the polarization of the read beam. We con...

Using diverse bandgap photovoltaic cells can improve solar conversion efficiency, but these systems also require efficient dispersive optics to direct portions of the solar spectrum onto the appropriate optimized cells. We use an extended coupled-mode model to show how multiplexed volume gratings interact with one another reducing efficiency in the diffraction orders of interest as well as incr...

A new class of ultra-miniature diffraction gratings has been recently proposed [1]. These gratings impose phase antisymmetry on the incoming wavefront effectively producing optical nulls which enable them to exhibit relatively constant response across wavelengths as well as insensitivity to manufactured grating thickness [2]. Hardware verification of these tiny gratings (on the scale of μm) has...

A rigorous modal analysis of lamellar gratings, i.e . gratings having rectangular grooves, in conical mountings is presented . It is an extension of the analysis of Botten et al . which considered non-conical mountings. A key step in the extension is a decomposition of the electromagnetic field in the grating region into two orthogonal components. A computer program implementing this extended m...

Wrinkling instabilities in polymeric bilayers have been exploited as optical phase gratings with tunable performance. Here, we report strain modulated 1D and 2D fabricated by the ubiquitous process of plasma-oxidation polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). While surface oxidation provides a remarkably facile glassy skin formation approach, minimizing delamination debonding, it inherently results gradient...