Diffraction of a Plane Wave at a Sinusoidally Stratified Dielectric Grating

The problem of diffraction at a sinusoidally stratified dielectric grating is treated. The analysis of the reconstruction process from a hologram formed in a “thick” photographic emulsion leads to this problem, but it may also occur in other areas. A rigorous solution of this problem is presented for both polarizations of the electric wave. The solution is evaluated numerically for values of the different parameters that are typical for holograms. It is shown that the amplitude of the diffracted light has a maximum if the light is incident at the Bragg angle, a feature already observed experimentally. Results are given for different values of the period as well as the thickness of the grating and for both polarizations.