Analysis on polarization dependence of Fraunhofer diffraction by metallic grating with short period

A method based on the combination of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm and Fourier transformation was proposed to analyze the Fraunhofer diffraction of gratings. Polarization dependence of the Fraunhofer diffraction of a one-dimensional metallic grating with period less than 8 times the incident wavelength was studied. Some special characteristics were found. The polarization dependence is related to period value, slit width, and thickness of the grating, and the missing orders predicted by scalar analysis appear. Besides, if the period of a grating is larger than 8 times the wavelength but the slit width or the size of the opaque portion of the grating is close to the wavelength, diffraction of the grating also becomes polarization dependent.