EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF DIFFRACTIVE PROPERTIES OF WAVELENGTH-SIZED SINGLE GROOVES COATED WITH GOLD FILM

We have gained a very comprehensive set of results for infrared diffraction (10.6 μm wavelength) from fabricated single grooves of reflection with widths in the range of 5μm to 65μm. The experimental results show that the diffraction can still occur when the groove width becomes comparable to or less than the wavelength of the probing light. Variations of the diffraction intensities have a very regular sinusoidal relationship with the polarization angle of the incident light; and the diffraction intensities are the maximal when the incident light is TM polarized. However, the diffraction intensities will be a minimum when the incident light is TE polarized; and the bigger the diffraction angle, the higher the rate of change of the diffractive intensity with increasing polarization angle of the incident light.