Abstract

The Wulf-Bragg-Ewald (WBE) formalism, generalized by using the grating vector uncertainty principle, is applied to analyze high-efficiency Bragg holographic structures. In particular, the previous approaches^1,2 are extended in two directions. The first is related to the high diffraction efficiency regime (where only the first Born approximation has been considered previously). This case has broad applications related to phase materials such as dichromated gelatin or photopolymers. The second generalization applies when more than one (two or three) hologram dimensions are limited, for example, in LiNbO₃ and BaTiO₃ crystals used for holographic storage. It is shown in this paper that the methods based on WBE formalism can give precise predictions on hologram angular/wave-length selectivity, spectral dispersion, and multi-beam Bragg acceptance, even in the case of highly efficient ferroelectric crystal holograms where Kogelnik’s theory does not hold.

© 1986 Optical Society of America