Design of High-Efficiency Diffraction Gratings Based on Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis for 800nm Wavelength

We report on the design of a high diffraction efficiency multi-layer dielectric grating with wide incident angle and broad bandwidth for 80Ohm. The optimized grating can achieve 〉 95% diffraction efficiency in the first order at an incident angle of 5° from Littrow and a wavelength from 77Ohm to 83Ohm, with peak diffraction efieieney of 〉 99.5% at 80Ohm. The electric field distribution of the optimized multi-layer dielectric grating within the gratings ridge is 1.3 times enhancement of the incidence light, which presents potential high laser resistance ability. Because of its high-effieieney, wide incident, broad bandwidth and potential high resistance ability, the multi-layer dielectric grating should have practical application in Ti：sapphire laser systems.     

基于相干粒子数囚禁的电磁诱导光栅研究

基于相干布居囚禁,提出了一种新的电磁诱导光栅物理模型, 得到了该模型下介质极化率的解析表达式. 由于相干布居囚禁引入的原子相干性, 介质极化率会形成增益、无吸收高折射率点以及暗态三个区域. 根据该理论模型, 基于⁸⁷Rb的原子能级, 提出了一种新型衍射光栅实现方案, 并进行了分析与计算. 结果表明, 在无吸收高折射率点处, 这种光栅是一种纯相位光栅, 一级衍射强度可达到0.4; 在增益区域中, 发现这种光栅是相位光栅和幅度光栅组合而成的混合型光栅, 在其最大增益点, 一级衍射效率最大可达1.26, 二级衍射效率也可增加到0.31. 关键词： 相干粒子数囚禁 电磁诱导光栅 衍射效率     

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.     

亚波长光栅的偏振闪耀特性

 使用琼斯矩阵的方法推导了连续结构亚波长光栅的衍射方程,给出了光栅衍射效率表达式,对偏振特性与衍射特性进行了研究。发现连续结构亚波长光栅仅存在３个衍射级,总衍射效率为100%,且衍射效率可在衍射级间任意分配,0级的偏振态与入射光的偏振态相同,±1级衍射光偏振态与入射光无关,－1级为左旋圆偏振光,＋1级为右旋圆偏振光。通过设置入射光偏振态与光栅相位延迟等参数,可使光栅具有闪耀特性,据此可用于设计高效偏振光分束器和偏振光开关。     

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。     

High average power spectral beam combining of four fiber amplifiers to 8.2 kW

We report on the incoherent beam combination of the four narrow-linewidth fiber amplifier chains running at different wavelengths. Each main amplifier stage consists of a large-mode-area photonic crystal fiber delivering more than 2 kW of optical power. The four output beams are spectrally combined to a single beam with an output power of 8.2 kW using a polarization-independent dielectric reflective diffraction grating mainly preserving the beam quality of the individual fiber amplifiers.     

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.     

宽光谱高衍射效率脉宽压缩光栅设计和性能分析

基于飞秒激光对脉宽压缩光栅宽光谱和高衍射效率的要求,提出了一种金属介质膜结构的宽光谱高衍射效率脉宽压缩光栅,该光栅由基底、金属介质膜和表面浮雕结构组成.为获得宽光谱高衍射效率的脉宽压缩光栅,采用严格耦合波理论对金属介质膜光栅的结构参数进行优化设计.数值分析表明当金属介质光栅的槽深、剩余厚度、占空比和入射角分别为272 ...     

Polymeric, electrically tunable diffraction grating based on artificial muscles

We demonstrate a low-cost, electrically tunable diffraction grating that is driven by a dielectric elastomer actuator. The angular tuning range of the polymer-based device is up to 118 mrad for the first diffracted order. The achievable grating period change of 32% is an improvement by more than a factor of 150 compared with existing analog tunable diffraction gratings based on hard materials. We show that in combination with a white light source, the presented diffraction grating can be used as a wavelength-adjustable luminous source. Such an illuminant has a potential application in inexpensive color displays that could reproduce all perceivable colors.     

Development of a mirror backed volume phase grating with potential for large aperture and high damage threshold

The present paper proposes a new grating concept by which a volume phase grating is placed on top of a dielectric mirror stack. Instead of using a multilayer dielectric grating, wherein the uppermost layer of a thin film mirror is etched to create the desired binary phase grating we suggest to have an upper grating layer of a lower density gelatin-based volume phase grating in either sol–gel or dichromated gelatin. The key benefit is the elimination of the etching step which is the limiting factor in the production of large aperture gratings. We have investigated designs for s- and p-polarization as well as the necessary chemistry that is needed to achieve the required index modulations. Damage testing on dichromated gelatin and aerogel was performed and diffraction efficiencies for various prototypes were measured.     

Calculation of parameters of diffraction polarizers

The results of calculations of two types of reflective polarizers made up of thin-film diffraction grating formed by birefringent plane-parallel elements are presented. One of the two orthogonal linear polarizations can be separated almost without any losses because of a strong zero-order reflection. A polarizer of the first type represents a grating formed by asperities of a dielectric coating with a columnar structure produced upon oblique deposition of the dielectric. The second polarizer represents a thin mica plate grating. In this case, comparison with previous experiments can be performed.     

Extension of Reflectance and Transmission Coefficient Matrix to C-method for study of periodic multilayer system

The C-method is one of the most efficient and versatile method designed for diffraction gratings. The boundary conditions of the grating can be greatly simplified when the coordinate systems coincide with the surfaces of the grating. Reflectance and Transmission Coefficient Matrix (RTCM) with clearly physical concept is a powerful propagation algorithm proposed for steady and fast calculation of multilayer gratings. In this paper, the C-method is extended to treat the multilayer diffraction grating with the identical or nonidentical surface shapes. Numerical examples including diffraction efficiencies of both dielectric and metallic grating are presented. In addition, the excellent convergence for various adjacent-heights and diffracted orders of our propagation algorithm for TE and TM polarizations is also included.     

多层介质膜脉冲压缩光栅近场光学特性分析

利用傅里叶模式理论分析了TE波自准直角入射的使用条件下，多层介质膜光栅的光栅区和多层膜区电场分布的特点.分别讨论了HfO₂和SiO₂为顶层光栅材料时，光栅结构参数对光栅脊峰值电场的影响，结果表明，对于不同膜厚的顶层材料，存在一个最佳膜厚度，使光栅脊峰值电场最小，并且当膜厚增大时，设计大高宽比的光栅可以降低该电场峰值.最后，在大角度条件下使用多层膜光栅也可以降低光栅脊处的峰值电场. 关键词： 衍射光学 多层介质膜光栅 模式理论 损伤阈值     

Bragg反射齿型平面凹面衍射光栅性能研究

本文基于Bragg反射光栅是一维光子晶体的一种特例结构, 提出利用一维光子晶体理论进行Bragg衍射光栅的设计并对其性能进行研究分析. 根据一维光子晶体理论, 建立了罗兰圆结构的凹面椭圆Bragg蚀刻衍射光栅, 研究了TE/TM模式下器件的分光特性以及入射角度改变对器件角色散造成的影响; 同时, 文中对比了空气介质型和金属铝线型椭圆Bragg蚀刻衍射光栅的光学性能. 研究结果表明: 选择合适的器件参数, 可以实现TE/TM模式下1.465-1.615 μm范围内波长衍射效率在95% 以上, 且空气介质型结构光栅的通道均匀性要优于金属铝线型结构光栅; 入射角在30°-60°范围内变化时, 相同入射角度下, TM模式下器件角色散大于TE模式. 基于Bragg衍射光栅设计的波分复用器是一种尺寸小、衍射效率高的新型EDG 波分复用器, 为未来密集型EDG波分复用器发展提供了一种新的设计思路.     

High-efficiency, high-dispersion diffraction gratings based on total internal reflection

We report a new class of high-dispersion immersed diffraction gratings for which the reflective nature of the diffraction is provided by the phenomenon of total internal reflection (TIR) regardless of grating tooth shape. Thus, the component can be fabricated from a single dielectric material and requires no metallic or dielectric film layers for high reflection diffraction efficiency. With the absence of metallic absorption, diffraction efficiencies of these TIR gratings can reach more than 99% for 15-20-nm spectral bandwidths, making them suitable for many laser-based technologies.     

On the effect of nonequidistance of dielectric coatings and the groove profile on the energy characteristics of holographic diffraction gratings

The diffraction efficiency and the resistance to radiation damage of gratings with a multilayer dielectric coating, which are used for compression of high-power laser pulses, are studied. The effect of smoothing of the profile of the metallized surface of the grating upon deposition of dielectric coatings on the energy characteristics of the grating at the wavelength λ=1.05 μm is analyzed. Gratings with various profiles of the metallic surface relief and with different contrast of the refractive indices of the dielectrics forming the coating are considered.     

Study on guided-mode resonance characteristic of multilayer dielectric grating with broadband and wide using-angle

Guided-mode resonance in a diffraction band of multilayer dielectric gratings may lead to a catastrophic result in laser system, especially in the ultrashort pulse laser system, so the inhibition of guided-mode resonance is very important. In this paper the characteristics of guided-mode resonance in multilayer dielectric grating are studied with the aim of better understanding the physical process of guided-mode resonance and designing a broadband multilayer dielectric grating with no guided-mode resonance. By employing waveguide theory, all guided-wave modes appearing in multilayer dielectric grating are found, and the incident conditions, separately, corresponding to each guided-wave mode are also obtained. The electric field enhancement in multilayer dielectric grating is shown obviously. Furthermore, from the detailed analyses on the guided-mode resonance conditions, it is found that the reduction of grating period would effectively avoid the appearing of guided-mode resonance. And the expressions for calculating maximum periods, which ensure that no guided-mode resonance occurs in the requiring broad angle or wavelength range, are first reported. The above results calculated by waveguide theory and Fourier mode method are compared wit each other, and they are coincident completely. Moreover, the method that relies on waveguide theory is more helpful for understanding the guided-mode resonance excited process and analyzing how each parameter affects the characteristic of guided-mode resonance. Therefore, the effects of multilayer dielectric grating parameters, such as period, fill factor, thickness of grating layer, {\it et al.}, on the guided-mode resonance characteristic are discussed in detail based on waveguide theory, and some meaningful results are obtained.     

Design of a full-silica pulse-compression grating

A diffraction grating engraved on a two-dimensional photonic crystal composed of square air holes in a silica matrix is numerically studied for the compression of ultrashort pulses. The silica is therefore the only solid material of the grating, and the reflection of the incident beam is based on the contrast of the air and silica refractive indices. This optical component enables the single use of silica as a solid material, presenting a high laser-induced damage threshold. In comparison to gratings engraved on a dielectric stack, multilayer dielectric, it offers the advantage of avoiding the presence of interfaces between two solid materials with different mechanical properties and sources of mechanical constraints that can distort the grating.     

Athermal metal-free planar waveguide concave grating demultiplexer

An athermal metal-free planar waveguide concave grating demultiplexer is proposed. We designed the dielectric mirror at the grating facet instead of coating with the metal on the back wall of the grating facet. The transfer-matrix method is introduced to design the dielectric mirror and the reflectance spectral responses of the 2D waveguide structure are simulated using the FDTD software (RSoft, Inc.). To reduce the temperature sensitivity of the device, the three-focal-point method is introduced. We use the design example to show the high-reflectance bandwidth of the dielectric mirror. The fabrication errors are also taken into consideration. By using the numerical model of the scalar diffraction theory, the flat-top spectral responses of the channels are simulated.     

Fabry-Perot interferometer with diffraction-scattered reflection of light

The incorporation of a phase grating into the optical system of a Fabry-Perot interferometer makes it possible to transform the incident beam of light so that the major part of energy in the reflected wave is contained in the side lobes in the far-field diffraction pattern and radiation in the zero order of diffraction along the optical axis is suppressed. Experimental results are presented, which are obtained with a grating produced by evaporating a thin-layer dielectric coating onto the input mirror of the interferometer.