Abstract

Measurements of the diffraction characteristics of one-dimensional surface-relief gratings of locally varying profile are compared with rigorous diffraction theory. These gratings result from the superposition of two linear sinusoidal gratings of uniform depth for which the relative phase between the two gratings varies slowly with position. The resultant surface profile exhibits a relatively large-period variation in profile form. The periodic variation in diffraction efficiency that results yields a visual moiré pattern that has interesting asymmetry and polarization properties that alter as the viewing conditions are changed; the gratings can be exploited by diffractive optically variable devices for document security.

© 1999 Optical Society of America

Surface-relief diffraction gratings recorded by multiple-beam coherent phase exposure

S. R. Cooper, D. W. Tomkins, and M. Petty
Opt. Lett. 22(6) 357-359 (1997)

Measurement of phase differences between the diffracted orders of deep relief gratings

C. M. B. Cordeiro, L. Cescato, A. A. Freschi, and Lifeng Li
Opt. Lett. 28(9) 683-685 (2003)

Optimized staircase profiles for diffractive optical devices made from absorbing materials

Bernd Nöhammer, Christian David, Jens Gobrecht, and Hans Peter Herzig
Opt. Lett. 28(13) 1087-1089 (2003)

Nonreciprocal diffraction by spatial modulation of absorption and refraction

Rouslan Birabassov, Ararat Yesayan, and Tigran V. Galstyan
Opt. Lett. 24(23) 1669-1671 (1999)

Diffraction of light from phase gratings at large modulation depths:?transient-grating experiments in liquids at high laser powers

Huxiong Chen and Gerald Diebold
Opt. Lett. 24(4) 211-213 (1999)