Polarization of holographic volume grating diffraction

The full polarization property of a holographic volume grating sample is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. There exists strong interaction between the transmitted and diffracted beams due to the grating diffraction of orders m=-1 and 1. Based upon a volume grating mode, the diffracted fields and Mueller matrices of the interacting transmitted and diffracted beams were first analytically derived. The formalism is derived for the general case that the diffraction beam and the grating wave-vector are not in the plane of incidence, where s-waves and p-waves are not de-coupled. For a single-hologram grating sample, the Mueller matrix is measured at wavelength 632.8 nm and in good agreement with the theory. The result demonstrates a correlation between the diffraction strength and the polarization properties of the volume holographic grating. The derived algorithm has provided a simulation analysis tool for the engineering device design of real holographic beam combiner/splitter (HBCS) devices.