Anisotropic gratings recorded from two circularly polarized coherent waves

A constant intensity, rectilinear light vibration, with spatially varying orientation, is obtained from superposition of two orthogonal circularly polarized waves propagating, in slightly different directions. Such an exposure on a photoanisotropic medium, prints a grating characterized only by spatial variations in the orientation of the induced optic axis. The diffraction properties of such a grating are investigated. It behaves as a uniformly transparent isotropic medium when illuminated by the same waves as during the recording process. Illumination by a circular wave, generates a transmitted and a single diffracted beam, while an incident elliptically polarized one would produce, apart from the central order, two diffracted beams with orthogonal circular polarizations.