Peculiarities of spontaneous gratings formation on the radiative modes under circularly polarized radiation

The spontaneous gratings (SG) formed on the radiative TE-modes in thin ligh t-sensitive AgCl-Ag layers by the off-normal incident circularly polarized laser beam were studied. A direct real-time method was used for observing t he diffraction patterns during the process of grating formation. Complicate d patterns, consisting of three systems of equidistant diffraction spots, a rcs and rings, were observed. It is shown that super-gratings, due to an ov erlap of the initial anti-parallel micro-gratings, play an essential role i n the formation of the diffraction patterns and regular SG. (C) 1999 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.