Model with two roughness levels for diffraction gratings: the generalized Rayleigh expansion

International audienceA model with two roughness levels for the diffraction of a plane wave by a metallic grating with periodic imperfections is presented. The grating surface is the sum of a reference profile and a perturbation profile. First, the diffraction by the reference grating is treated. At this stage the Chandezon method is used. This method leads to the resolution of eigenvalue systems. Each eigensolution defines an elementary wave function that characterizes a propagating or an evanescent wave. Second, the periodic errors are taken into account and a Rayleigh hypothesis is expressed: Everywhere in space the diffracted fields can be written as a linear combination of reference wave functions. The boundary conditions on the perturbed grating allow the diffraction amplitudes to be determined and therefore lead to the energetic magnitudes (efficiencies). The domain of analytical validity of this hypothesis is not defined. In fact, this method is considered to be an approximation. The proposed numerical study leads to some utilization rules. With a plane as the reference surface, the electromagnetic fields are given by classical Rayleigh expansions. Here the reference profile is a grating, hence the term generalized Rayleigh expansion