Diffraction Efficiency of Attenuated Sinusoidally Modulated Gratings in Volume Holograms

Based on the theory of coupled waves the amplitude of the first-order diffracted wave and the diffraction efficiency respectively is calculated for an attenuated sinusoidally modulated grating using suitable approximations. Solutions for absorption, lossless dielectric, and mixed holograms in transmission and reflection are given. It is shown that the attenuation acts as a decreasing factor of the effective thickness of the storage medium. A deviation of Bragg-angle incidence shows an increasing and shifting of the secondary minimum and maximum values related to the normalized maximum value caused by attenuation.