A new electrically controllable diffraction grating using polarization reflection

An electrically controllable diffraction (ECD) grating using a polarization reflection from an electro-optic (EO) material is proposed and investigated in the experiments. The fundamental characteristics of this ECD grating are given experimentally for a He-Ne 0.63-μm laser. The grating used consists of a PLZT ceramic with ten pairs of interdigital electrodes having a period of 400 μm. Applying the electric field to the electrodes, the diffraction pattern can be changed due to the deviation of the reflectance of the EO material. Near the zeroth-order diffraction peak the maximum modulation degree of 33% was obtained with an applied peak voltage of 100 V at an incident angle 60°.