Where is positive and is negative if the incident and diffracted beams are on opposite sides of the grating surface normal, as illustrated in the example in Figure 2. If your application requires integrating the grating into a sub-assembly or a setup, please contact us to learn more about our assembly capabilities. Thorlabs uses a clean room facility for assembly of gratings into mechanical setups. Solvents will likely damage the grating's surface. No attempt should be made to clean a grating other than blowing off dust with clean, dry air or nitrogen. Latex gloves or a similar protective covering should be worn to prevent oil from fingers from reaching the grating surface. Gratings should only be handled when necessary and always held by the sides. Optical gratings can be easily damaged by moisture, fingerprints, aerosols, or the slightest contact with any abrasive material. Thorlabs' gratings can be mounted directly into the KM100C Right-Handed or KM100CL Left-Handed Kinematic Rectangular Optic Mount for precise and stable mounting and alignment. For more information on selecting the right type of grating for your application, please see the Gratings Guide tab above. In most cases the efficiency is comparable to that of reflection gratings such as Ruled Gratings or Holographic Gratings when used in the same wavelength range. These grooved transmission gratings were designed for optimum performance in the ultraviolet spectrum and offer different levels of dispersion. Transmission gratings provide low alignment sensitivity, which minimizes alignment errors.
The incident light is dispersed on the opposite side of the grating at a fixed angle. Transmission gratings are ideal for fixed grating applications, such as spectrographs. Top Image: On one edge of the grating, an arrow parallel to the grating's surface indicates the blaze direction.īottom Image: On the opposite edge of the grating, an arrow perpendicular to the grating's surface indicates the transmission direction. The gratings are also relatively polarization insensitive.
The grating dispersion characteristics, however, lend themselves to compact systems utilizing small detector arrays. As the diffraction angles increase the finer groove spacings, the refractive properties of the materials used limit the transmission at the higher wavelengths, which leads to a degradation in performance. Please refer to the Graphs tab for efficiency information.īy necessity, transmission gratings require relatively coarse groove spacings to maintain high efficiency.
Zero- and first-order data is included in all performance curves for those interested in beamsplitting applications. These 1/2" Square UV Transmission Gratings are manufactured from UV-grade fused silica and provide optimal performance down to 235 nm.