Diffraction of light from phase gratings at large modulation depths: transient-grating experiments in liquids at high...

Generation of transient gratings in weakly absorbing liquids with a high-power laser gives rise to changes in the fluid's index of refraction that are sufficiently large to produce both multiple diffraction of a probe laser beam and a time response anomaly. The coupled-wave approach to the solution of the volume diffraction problem is shown to predict the existence of high-order diffraction of the probe beam and the time dependence of the diffraction intensity of each order. In addition, criteria for the Raman-Nath and Bragg diffraction regimes are derived from the first-order, coupled-wave equations.