Effect of fill-factor on the Talbot effect of diffraction gratings

Abstract

We analyze the effect of the fill factor of binary diffraction gratings on the near field propagation. We show that the location of the best-visibility planes changes with the configuration parameters of the grating, that is, the amplitude and phase modulation and the fill factor. Moreover, different intensity patterns and contrast shapes can be obtained when different configurations are used. Analytical expressions describing the contrast of the diffracted field are obtained, that agree with numerical simulations.