Inprentus Develops Proprietary Software to Predict Grating Efficiency of Manufactured Diffraction Gratings, and Highlights a Comparison of Software Efficiency Simulations of Real-World Groove Shapes to Real Beamline Efficiency Measurements
The software, developed by Inprentus and verified with GSOLVER and Neviere’s Gradif Code, simulates a single material in transverse electric polarization and extends the simulation capability beyond the Gradif Code to arbitrary surface profiles. For the measurements, we used a Variable Line Spacing (VLS) blazed grating manufactured by Inprentus for the MERLIN beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Inprentus team probed the grating’s groove shapes using atomic force microscopy and applied the software to predict efficiency. Simulated efficiency was then compared to that of the Designed Perfect Triangle and to efficiency measurements performed on the grating by Erik Gullikson, staff scientist at the ALS for beamline 6.3.2. In situ grating efficiency measurements showed that efficiency exceeded Inprentus’ simulations.
Subha Kumar, Inprentus’ Chief Operating Officer, observed that "Inprentus' proprietary software for simulating the efficiency of real-world groove shapes is an important breakthrough in our manufacturing quality assurance, allowing us to create the same master grating with excellent efficiency over and over again. In this case, it is extra exciting as grating efficiency measurements by the Advanced Light Source actually exceeded our expected values. This validation of our software’s accuracy helps us to achieve where we would like to be as a manufacturer - making very happy customers".