Abstract

The theory is based on the vector wave functions which can be used as the bases of the fields both outside and inside the grooves of the infinitely conducting lamellar grating. The bases are the solutions of the vector Helmholtz wave equation and satisfy proper boundary conditions. The field outside the grooves consists of an incident plane wave and diffractive waves: The direction of the incident wave can be either orthogonal or nonorthogonal to that of grooves. Inside the groove, the forms of the field are The expressions of the bases are derived. Using boundary conditions on the grating surface, linear equations are obtained to calculate the diffractive and mode amplitudes {A_n,B_n,a_m,b_m} for given incident waves.

© 1986 Optical Society of America