Fourier gratings as submillimeter beam splitters

Over the past years, a number of groups have developed phase gratings as local oscillator beam multiplexers for array receivers in the submillimeter wavelength domain. The most popular type of grating is the Dammann grating, a simple and versatile binary phase grating. We introduce a new type of grating, the Fourier grating, which, ill contrast to the binary structure of Dammann gratings, uses a smooth grating structure. Due to the lack of sharp edges these gratings can be manufactured with high precision as reflection gratings even for two-dimensional (2-D) dispersion. Fourier gratings are designed using a simple optimization procedure that only involves a small number of parameters. Their diffraction efficiency is very high. We have produced a number of gratings and tested;hem at a frequency of 490 GHz, verifying the theoretical results.