Diffraction efficiency and electron microscopy of large amplitude holographic gratings

The diffraction efficiency of Ag coated holographic gratings was measured as a function of the grating amplitude, H, for a He-Ne laser incident at 30° and 70° in the plane perpendicular to the grating grooves. The grating amplitude was determined using a scanning electron microscope. It was found that the diffraction efficiency of s polarized light increased monotonically with increasing H for H < 250 nm. In contrast, for the same amplitude range, the diffraction efficiency of p polarized light oscillated through two maxima at H = 90 nmand 220 nm. These results were compared to the theoretical calculations of Heitmann and found to agree within 10% for H < 60 nm in the s polarization case and for H < 15 nm in the p polarization case. For larger H, the data deviated significantly, presumably due to a breakdown of the small amplitude assumption on which the calculations were based.