Abstract: Wave diffraction characteristics of dielectric periodic structures with arbitrary grating profiles for TE and TM polarizations are analyzed by a method which combines the multimode network theory with the rigorous mode matching procedure. The variations of the diffraction with the change of frequency and incident angle for the periodic structures with different grating profiles, such as sinusoid, triangle, trapezoid, increasing cosine and semiellipse are systematically studied. The effectiveness and accuracy of the present method are verified by the results given in the literature.

Key words: mode matching method, dielectric grating, diffraction characteristics