Diffraction properties of ultrashort pulsed beams with arbitrary temporal profiles by a reflection volume holographic grating

The diffraction properties of reflection volume holographic gratings are studied when the gratings are illuminated by an ultrashort beam with arbitrary temporal profiles. The modified Kogelnik's theory of coupled waves is used. Simple analytical expressions for spectral and temporal distribution of the transmitted and diffracted are obtained. The dependences of the diffraction bandwidth, the Bragg selectivity bandwidth and the total diffraction efficiency of the reflection volume grating on the temporal profiles of the input ultrashort pulse are investigated. Study shows that the bandwidth of the reflection volume holographic gratings varies with the grating parameters more slowly than the transmitting volume holographic gratings. For three different temporal profiles, numerical results about diffraction properties of the reflection volume holographic gratings are given and compared with the transmitting volume holographic gratings.     

Total internal reflection diffraction grating in conical mounting

The main conditions and parameters for obtaining surface relief total internal reflection diffraction gratings in conical mounting are presented. Calculated and experimental investigations reveal that there are ranges of grating periods, incidence angles, diffraction angles and gratings depths for which such gratings could be obtained, both for TE and TM polarizations. With optimized grating parameters the diffraction efficiency of the total internal reflection diffraction gratings can be greater than 90%.     

Plasmon resonances in deep nanogrooves of reflective metal gratings

Metallic gratings with very deep and narrow grooves are fabricated and their reflection spectra are characterized, which explicitly show high-order standing-wave-like resonances of surface plasmons in the cavity of nanogrooves. The effect of in-plane surface plasmon resonance is also observed, which is shown to have only a minor role on the reflection of such gratings, unlike that for shallow gratings. Using numerical simulations, the cavity resonances and their effects on the reflection of the gratings are identified and further analyzed. As field is more enhanced in the nanogrooves under cavity resonance conditions, the enhancement is also found to be dependent on the grating period, i.e. the strongest enhancement takes place for higher-order resonance modes for smaller grating period. For gratings with shallower grooves, comparable enhancement of field is also achievable by proper design of the grating period. The study suggests that field enhancement can be realized at selective wavelengths in a wide spectrum range using cavity resonances in the deep nanogrooves of metal gratings, and the position for field-enhancement can be tuned by the depth and period of the gratings.     

Matching of quasioptical open resonators with waveguide feeders

We consider a semisymmetric open resonator (OR) included in a waveguide feeder, in which the first higher-order mode is excited. We show that a high efficiency of excitation of the mode can be achieved by appropriate choice of coupler dimensions due to the matching of structures of the exciting and operating fields. We analyze the behavior of the resonance reflection and transmission coefficients as well as the loaded Q-factor of an OR as functions of the parameters of one-dimensional E-polarized diffraction gratings located in a coupler aperture with dimensions of a few of wavelengths. Calculations are made with allowance for the resonance and excitation losses. The numerical results differ from the experimental data by no more than 13%, which allows one to construct open resonance systems with the required properties by changing the parameters of diffraction gratings in the coupler aperture. Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kharkov, Ukraine Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 325–334, September, 2000.     

超短脉冲激光光束在一维反射型体全息光栅中的衍射

基于Kogelnik的耦合波理论,研究了在色散效应的影响下,超短脉冲激光光束在反射型体全息光栅中衍射的性质.研究给出了衍射光及透射光在频谱域及时间域的振幅及强度分布、光栅的光谱宽度及衍射效率随光栅参量及入射条件的变化.数值研究的结果表明,在光栅记录介质色散效应的影响下,衍射光束的光谱宽度减小,脉冲展宽,衍射效率降低.通过适当的选取光栅参量及入射条件,可以控制衍射和透射光束的频谱和时间强度分布,得到满意的衍射和透射光束的带宽和波形,从而可以将其应用于脉冲整形等技术中.     

Design of high-efficiency diffraction gratings based on total internal reflection for pulse compressor

We present designs of high-efficiency compression grating based on total internal reflection (TIR) for picosecond pulse laser at 1053 nm. The setup is devised by directly etching gratings into the bottom side of a prism so that light can successfully enter (or exit) the compression grating. Dependence of the −1 order diffraction efficiencies on the constructive parameters is analyzed for TE- and TM-polarized incident light at Littrow angle by using Fourier modal method in order to obtain optimal grating structure. The electric field enhancement within the high-efficiency TIR gratings is regarded as another criterion to optimize the structure of the TIR gratings. With the criterion of high diffraction efficiency, low electric field enhancement and sufficient manufacturing latitude, TIR compression gratings with optimized constructive parameters are obtained for TE- and TM-polarized incident light, respectively. The grating for TE-polarized light exhibits diffraction efficiencies higher than 0.95 within 23 nm bandwidth and relatively low square of electric field enhancement ratio of 5.7. Regardless of the internal electric field enhancement, the grating for TM-polarized light provides diffraction efficiencies higher than 0.95 within 42 nm bandwidth. With compact structure, such TIR compression gratings made solely of fused silica should be of great interest for application to chirped pulse amplification (CPA) systems.     

Application of unfolding technique to dispersion calculating of reflective grating dispersion delay lines in the chirped pulses amplifier

Dispersion delay lines (such as the compressor and the stretcher) consisting of reflective optical elements (mirrors and reflection diffraction gratings), are now widely used in chirped-pulse amplification technique. It is shown that for their calculations the unfolding technique can be applied. According to this technique, the dispersion of the compressor and the stretcher can be characterized by the "zero-distant pulse fronts" in their spatial chirps.     

Design of ultrabroadband internal reflection gratings with high efficiency

A high-efficiency, ultrabroadband dielectric internal reflection grating with rhombus-shaped grooves is designed by a rigorous coupled-wave analysis, and an effective method for predicting spectral bandwidths of gratings from their efficiency maps is presented. The grating can be fabricated from a single dielectric material, and its reflection diffraction efficiency of the -1st order can reach more than 0.99. More importantly, an ultrabroadband top-hat diffraction spectrum with efficiency exceeding 0.98 over 170 nm wavelength wide is achieved, which makes the gratings suitable for applications associated with broadband illumination, such as ultrashort pulses.     

Analysis of restriction factors of widening diffraction bandwidth of multilayer dielectric grating

In order to design a multilayer dielectric grating with wide-bandwidth diffraction spectrum, the restriction factors of both the reflection bandwidth of multilayer dielectric high-reflectivity mirror and the guided-mode resonance phenomenon are studied in detail. The reflection characteristics of high-reflectivity mirror in zeroth and 1st transmitted diffraction orders are quantitatively evaluated. It is found that the reflection bandwidth of high-reflectivity mirror in 1st transmitted diffraction order, which determines the final diffraction bandwidth of multilayer dielectric grating, is evidently compressed. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the reducing of grating period is an effective approach to the elimination of guided mode resonance over a required broad band range both spectrally and angularly. In addition, the expressions for calculating the maximum period ensuring no guided mode resonance in the required bandwidth are derived. Finally, two high-efficiency pulse-compression gratings with broad-band are presented.     

Analysis of reflection speckle holograms in a BSO crystal

A theoretical and experimental study of speckle registering in photorefractive BSO crystals through reflection hologram geometry is implemented. The three-dimensional speckle nature is considered in the diffraction efficiency calculations. The interference process produces index-of-refraction gratings in the speckle volume via the photorefractive effect. It is demonstrated that the coupled-wave theory for reflection geometry allows explaining the diffraction efficiency behavior when the interaction length is properly taken into account. It means that the speckle depth is related with the interaction length. The speckle depth can be controlled by the imaging system pupil aperture diameter. Under this condition, the influence of the speckle depth on the diffraction efficiency is analyzed. An agreement between the numerical model based on the coupled-wave theory and the experimental results is obtained.     

Thin and thick diffraction gratings: Thin matrix decomposition method

A brief review of the properties of transmission diffraction gratings is presented. Two types of gratings will be analyzed: thin and volume gratings explaining how the efficiency of the different orders that propagate inside the gratings can be calculated in both cases. For thin diffraction gratings the so-called amplitude transmittance method is applied in order to get the amplitude of the different orders, whereas in the case of volume gratings more complex methods are needed, such as Coupled Wave or modal theories. We will comment on the thin matrix decomposition method (TMDM), firstly proposed by Alferness, which gives a very intuitive approach and connects the properties of thin gratings to the properties of volume ones. The thin matrix decomposition method consists in dividing the volume grating in a number of thin gratings and applying the amplitude transmittance method to each thin grating. In this way the output of a grating will be considered as the input of the next and any individual grating can be treated by the amplitude transmittance method. The novelty of this work is that a comparison is made between the analytical expressions obtained by Alferness using the TMDM with the numerical results obtained using the coupled wave (CW) and rigorous coupled wave (RCW) theories for the efficiencies of the zero, first and second order when a plane wave incides onto a sinusoidal diffracion grating at the second on-Bragg replay angular condition.     

About the use of transmission dielectric gratings in colour or black-and-white reproduction

We study, by applying electromagnetic theory, the properties of dielectric sinusoidal gratings used in black-and-white zero-order diffraction reproduction. It is shown how the spacing and the groove depth can be chosen in order to improve the black density.     

Comparison between a thin matrix decomposition method and the rigorous coupled wave theory applied to volume diffraction gratings

Diffraction gratings have been an interesting field during the last decades. A great deal of research has been done in order to understand how light propagates inside diffraction gratings. Since its formulation, the Rigorous Coupled Wave Theory (RCWT) has been applied to different periodic structures providing a basis to check the validity of approximate theories, such as Kogelnik's coupled wave theory or the coupled wave theory neglecting second derivatives. In this work we will compare the results of the diffraction efficiencies of the first and second orders at second on-Bragg replay angular condition, obtained by using an analytical formula provided by Alferness using an approximate thin-matrix decomposition method (TMDM) with the results obtained by using the RCWT. Good agreement between the results obtained using TMDM and the RCWT were found.     

多层介质膜脉宽压缩光栅的严格矢量分析

用于展宽和压缩激光脉冲的多层膜脉宽压缩光栅是由多层介质高反膜和位于其顶层的浮雕光栅构成。以设计的高反射多层膜为基础,利用傅里叶模式理论分析了其衍射场分布,给出了TE波自准直角入射的使用条件下,多层介质膜脉宽压缩光栅衍射效率的表达式。以-1级衍射效率为评价函数,分别讨论了HfO2和SiO2为顶层材料时,多层膜脉宽压缩光栅-1级衍射效率高于0.95的光栅结构参量范围。结果表明,在该条件下,选择HfO2为顶层材料时,光栅结构参量有较大的取值范围。给出了优化的光栅结构参量,并分析了光栅制作误差及其使用条件的宽容度,对光栅制作工艺和使用具有一定的指导意义。     

二次采样随机共振频谱研究与应用初探

研究了双稳系统随机共振频谱的洛伦兹分布特征，得出在谱分布能量较集中的低频区才能产生可辨识的随机共振谱峰. 探讨了大参数信号双稳系统的二次采样随机共振的频谱特性. 以强噪声中弱信号的检测为实例，阐述了二次采样随机共振技术的具体应用. 关键词： 随机共振 二次采样随机共振 双稳系统 频谱     

Pulse shaping and diffraction properties of multi-layers reflection volume holographic gratings

The multi-layers coupled-wave theory is extended to systematically investigate the pulse shaping and diffraction properties of a system of multi-layers reflection volume holographic gratings (MRVHG) under ultrashort laser pulse (ULP) readout. The combined effects that the grating parameters such as the number and thickness of layers and gaps between them and the pulse duration of the input ULP have on the pulse shaping properties are considered. The pulse profiles of the diffracted and transmitted beams, the diffraction bandwidth, and the total diffraction efficiency are presented. The calculated results we have derived permit an optimal choice of grating parameters for the pulse shaping and process applications.     

Neutron diffraction by laser-generated volume phase gratings

Cold neutrons are diffracted by thick phase gratings which have been produced by light-optical holography in poly-(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The neutron diffraction efficiency is investigated in the Laue case as a function of the angle of incidence by rocking the sample. The dynamical theory of neutron diffraction allows to relate the measured diffraction efficiency to the modulation amplitude of the neutron-optical refractive index. The absence of higher order diffraction peaks proves that this modulation is sinusoidal. Further experimental parameters are shown to influence the diffraction in accordance with the dynamical theory: the wavelength of neutrons, the sample thickness, and the grating period. Laser diffraction experiments allow us to give upper limits for the uniformity of the grating constant throughout the sample volume. The gratings show properties which are promising for the fabrication of high-precision control samples for cold and very cold neutron spectrometers, for the construction of neutron-optical instruments, and the possibility to measure photoinduced changes of neutron-optical potentials.     

Diffraction efficiency of sequentially stored gratings in reflection volume holograms

On the basis of the theory of coupled waves the amplitudes of the first-order diffracted waves and the diffraction efficiency is calculated for sequentially superposed phase gratings stored in dielectric reflection holograms. The investigations are restricted to the case of a fixed reference wave during recording and Bragg-angle incidence.By analogy to the transmission volume grating the coupling effects which appear between incident beams and diffracted waves give the possibility of building up beam-couplers and -splitters with certain coupling parameters determined by the recording process. Moreover, reflection gratings allow a favourable combination between coupling and reflecting properties and avoid the diffraction efficiency oscillations that are characteristic of transmission gratings. The performance of the reconstruction process with several waves simultaneously allows the tuning of the intensities of diffracted waves with dependence on amplitude or phase differences between incident beams.     

Design of specific gratings operating under surface plasmon-polariton resonance

We present a productive method of designing specific diffraction gratings that ensure some predetermined energy redistributions between outgoing waves. It is based on the analytical solution of the direct and reverse diffraction problems under surface plasmon-polariton resonance and is supported by strict numerical calculations.     

Spectrum envelope analysis for interleaved sampled gratings with phase-shift

An analytical method is proposed for calculating reflection-spectrum envelope of interleaved sampled gratings with phase-shifts. Effects of parameters on reflection-spectrum envelope of the grating are discussed, such as two grating segment lengths, phase-shift and interleaved length. The unique optimal interleaved length can be obtained to provide the broadest flat-top reflection-spectrum envelope without ripples. Accuracy of the analytical expression is verified due to the calculated results in good agreement with the reflection spectra obtained by the piecewise uniform transform matrix method.