On the Fresnel diffraction pattern of phase holographic gratings

The Fresnel diffraction pattern of phase diffraction gratings is studied on the example of idealized sinusoidal relief-phase plane holographic thermoplastic gratings. It is shown that, in the region of low spatial frequencies, which are more than two times lower than the inverse wavelength of the reading coherent radiation, the intensities of the main diffraction maxima, the diffraction efficiency, and the light-scattering power are independent of the spatial frequency of the phase gratings under investigation, which are characterized by a sinusoidal law of modulation of the reading-radiation phase. It is established that the range of spatial frequencies at which a plateau is observed in these dependences increases with decreasing amplitude of the phase modulation of the reading light. These dependences are also observed to have similar character for the thermoplastic holographic gratings under study. Calculations were performed to analyze the influence of real profiles of thermoplastic strain on the diffraction efficiency and light-scattering power of such gratings. On the basis of analysis of the results obtained, recommendations on using holographic and raster techniques of recording data on phase carriers are given that make it possible to improve the quality of the restored optical image.