Bi-layered composite gratings with high diffraction efficiency enabled by near-field coupling.

Abstract

In this paper, we present a design method for bi-layered composite gratings to achieve high diffraction efficiency. These composite gratings feature strong near-field coupling between their constituent dielectric subwavelength gratings, thus enabling high-efficiency first-order diffraction in the far-field. An intuitive explanation based on a wavevector matching condition for such high diffraction efficiency composite gratings is provided. According to theoretical analysis, a design strategy for the proposed composite gratings is developed and verified by numerical simulations with gratings working in both TE and TM modes. The proposed strategy could open door to develop bi-layered composite gratings for manipulating diffracted waves with high efficiency, thus may potentially enable new applications in photonic systems.