Goniospectrophotometric space curves of diffraction gratings and their applicability as appearance fingerprints

The bidirectional reflectance distribution functions of diffraction gratings were calculated by applying diffraction theory and transformed into goniospectrophotometric space curves. Gratings with parallel sinusoidal grooves having periods of 1-3.5 μm and amplitudes below 0.2 μm were analyzed. The obtained goniospectrophotometric space curves consist of lines with different slopes and possible interconnections. The slope of the lines is directly connected to the grating period and the length to the period and the amplitude. Such curves could be regarded as a simple appearance fingerprint of a diffraction grating. The ability of portable multiangle spectrophotometers to provide them for diffraction gratings is analyzed.