Analysis of near-field of diffractive gratings used in inertial confinement fusion driver

Abstract

Diffractive gratings, such as 1 grating and beam sampling grating (BSG), are used in the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) driver because of their high diffractive efficiency. Under high power laser condition, it demands that near fields of the diffractive gratings, mainly affected by input laser energy and beam modulation, must be less than their damage threshold, otherwise the diffractive gratings will be damaged. In this paper, Fourier modal method based on the rigorous electromagnetic theory is introduced to rapidly and accurately analyze the distribution of near fields of the diffractive gratings. Its physical concept is clear and concise, and computation cost is small. Through numerical simulation, it indicates that the results calculated by Fourier modal method are accurate and effective, compared with those calculated by other method. The near fields of 1 grating used in final optical system of ICF driver are obtained. In addition, fabrication errors effects on the near field modulation are simulated. It shows that the sidewall slope errors are the main cause of optical field modulation. With theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, it is useful to understand mechanism of damage and help how to control fabrication process errors of the optical elements used in the optical system of ICF.