Modelling of the diffraction efficiency of surface relief gratings with varying spatial frequency, height and shape of the relief

Abstract

Abstract An important goal in the development of diffractive optical elements is to achieve high diffraction efficiency. One class of these elements are the surface relief gratings recorded by polarization holography. For recording media, we used azopolymer (poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo) benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethanediyl, sodium salt]), shortly denoted as PAZO. The aim of the present work is to simulate a highly efficient surface relief grating formed in the azopolymer PAZO. The model is based on experimental results already obtained by our group. The tasks of the research are related to the analysis of the diffraction efficiency in the spectral range from 300 nm to 800 nm and for: 1) range of grating spatial frequencies from 1200 ln/mm to 1800 ln/mm, 2) surface relief height varying from 100 nm to 400 nm and 3) different shapes of the formed relief.