Diffraction efficiency of relief-type gratings in amorphous chalcogenide films

In As-Se-(S)-Ge amorphous films, the chemical etching rate between the heat treated and the light irradiated states differs as well as the optical properties do. A relief-type grating made by the etching has a high diffraction efficiency (∽15%). The diffraction efficiency of the relief-type grating is analyzed by a Fourier expansion method under some assumptions and good agreement is obtained between the calculated and the experimental values.