[OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 6, No. 6 (1999) 501-506]

Numerical Evaluation of Polarization-Selective Characteristics of a Binary Relief Grating with Subwavelength Structures

Masayuki FUJIMOTO,1 Yoichi OKUNO1 and Toyonori MATSUDA2

1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1, Kurokami, Kumamoto, 860-8555 Japan 2Kumamoto National College of Technology, 2659-2, Nishigoshi, Kumamoto, 861-1102 Japan

(Received February 8, 1999; Accepted August 23, 1999)

The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is applied to the numerical evaluation of diffraction from a binary relief grating with subwavelength structures. It is demonstrated numerically that the binary relief grating made of isotropic materials works as a polarization selective optical device. It is further shown that the polarization effects depend on the arrangements of subwavelength structures.

Key words : subwavelength structure, form-birefringence, FDTD method, diffraction efficiency, polarization-selective grating

fujimo@st.eecs.kumamoto-u.ac.jp