A Dammann grating is a type of diffractive optical element (DOE) used to create an array of equally spaced, uniform-intensity spots or beams. It is named after its inventor, Dr. Herbert Dammann. The primary application of Dammann gratings is in beam splitting and pattern generation in optical systems.
The Dammann grating consists of a series of parallel grooves or lines etched onto a substrate, and the spacing between these grooves varies across the grating. The design is such that when a collimated beam of light illuminates the grating, it diffracts the light into multiple orders, creating an array of beams with equal intensity. The simplest and most common Dammann grating is the binary Dammann grating, where the groove depths alternate between two values.
Dammann gratings find applications in various fields, including laser systems, interferometry, and imaging. They are particularly useful in creating beam arrays for applications such as laser illumination, structured light patterns for 3D imaging, and parallel processing in optics.
These gratings are designed based on mathematical principles to achieve the desired beam splitting patterns, and they offer a practical way to generate multiple beams with uniform intensity, which is crucial in many optical setups and applications.