At the SRS at Daresbury Laboratory, we are undertaking a programme comparin
g the results from efficiency calculations of diffraction gratings, mainly
using the GRADIF code of Neviere, with measured efficiencies. The deviation
s from the predicted performance are larger for higher orders than for firs
t order. Higher order contamination is important in determining the usabili
ty of the beamline for certain types of experiments, particularly at energi
es below 100 eV. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.