Transmission gratings for high‑power laser systems

Ibsen Photonics is your trusted and stable supplier of transmission gratings for high-power laser systems. Our transmission gratings are etched directly into pure fused silica providing the world’s highest diffraction efficiency and unmatched energy and power handling capability. Our manufacturing processes are optimized for high volume supply of gratings with high and consistent performance.

Why leading OEMs partner with Ibsen:

Pulse compression and stretching for femtosecond lasers

Pulse compression and stretching are central uses of Ibsen’s fused‑silica transmission gratings, enabling femtosecond laser systems to reach high pulse energies with excellent stability. In chirped‑pulse amplification (CPA), both the stretcher and compressor must preserve bandwidth, wavefront quality, and efficiency, and fused‑silica gratings meet these demands exceptionally well. Their surface‑relief structure – patterned lithographically or holographically and etched directly into fused silica – removes polymers, epoxies, gelatins, and metals from the optical path, ensuring outstanding power handling and long‑term reliability. High diffraction efficiency, broad spectral coverage, low wavefront distortion, and robust angular tolerance allow clean recompression of ultrashort pulses across industrial, scientific, and ultrafast‑laser platforms. These properties make Ibsen gratings a dependable foundation for OEMs building stable, high‑performance CPA systems.

Spectral beam combing or splitting

Spectral beam combining (SBC) increases continuous‑wave laser power by merging multiple wavelength channels into a single output without requiring phase locking. Because each channel operates at a different wavelength, the beams add in power rather than phase, making SBC inherently stable and straightforward to implement. Ibsen’s fused‑silica transmission gratings are well suited for this approach: their fully dielectric, surface‑relief design provides excellent thermal and environmental robustness, free from coatings or organic materials. Precisely etched grating profiles deliver high diffraction efficiency and very low polarization‑dependent loss across broad bandwidths, ensuring efficient handling of each wavelength channel. Their low angular sensitivity simplifies alignment and system integration, supporting compact, reliable SBC modules for demanding industrial and directed‑energy applications.

Beam splitting

Transmission gratings also serve as precise beam‑splitting elements, and Ibsen’s phase masks are engineered specifically for this purpose. In +1/–1 order phase masks, the incident beam is divided symmetrically into the first diffraction orders with minimal residual 0th‑order light. Ibsen also manufactures 0/–1 order phase masks, used in applications where the –1 order interferes with the remaining 0th order. Beyond simple power splitting, these masks create the periodic interference pattern required for writing Bragg gratings in both optical fibers and planar waveguides. Because the written grating directly replicates the phase mask, pitch accuracy, uniformity, and defect‑free fabrication are essential. Ibsen’s masks feature highly suppressed zero‑order transmission – typically 0–2% – ensuring clean, high‑contrast interference patterns for telecom, sensing, and laser‑industry components.

Pulse front tilting

Pulse‑front tilting is crucial for efficient THz generation in nonlinear crystals such as LiNbO₃, where the group velocity of the pump pulse and the phase velocity of the THz wave must be matched. A transmission grating naturally introduces angular dispersion, creating a controlled path‑length gradient across the beam and producing the required pulse‑front tilt. The tilt angle follows directly from the grating geometry and diffraction conditions, allowing precise tuning for optimal THz output. Fused‑silica transmission gratings are ideal for this application because they combine high diffraction efficiency with stable, repeatable angular dispersion and excellent power handling. This ensures reliable generation of the exact tilt needed for phase‑matched THz production in demanding scientific and industrial systems.

Polarization splitting

Polarization‑splitting gratings use a carefully engineered surface‑relief structure to separate TE and TM polarizations with high efficiency. Ibsen’s grating polarizer is a fully fused‑silica component with no thin‑film coatings, ensuring exceptional energy handling and environmental stability. The etched grating transmits nearly all TM (p‑polarized) light while diffracting TE (s‑polarized) light primarily into the –1 transmitted order, with only a small fraction entering reflected orders. This intrinsic polarization selectivity enables robust attenuation and beam routing for Ti:sapphire and other ultrafast laser systems. By rotating either the grating or the incident polarization, users can continuously tune the TM:TE ratio without introducing GDD ripple, wavefront distortion, or coating‑related degradation. The fused‑silica platform ensures long‑term reliability in high‑energy, broadband ultrafast applications.

Ibsen is your trusted and stable supplier of the highest quality transmission gratings, backed by over 30 years of product and market expertise.

At the heart of our fabrication is Ibsen’s holographic patterning technology, globally recognized for its unparalleled grating period and chirp precision. For more advanced patterning requirements, we also employ photo-mask patterning technology.

Combined with high-fidelity RIE etching processes, the purest silica material available, and precise metrology, Ibsen offer the world’s best transmission gratings high‑power laser systems.

For more information about our transmission gratings for high-power lasers please select below:

PCG: UV-VIS | 800nm | 9xxnm | 10xxnm | 1500nm | 2000nm
SBC gratings: SBC
Beam splitter: +1/-1 | 0/-1 
Grating polarizer: Ti:sapphire (800nm)