Tackling the phase problem of diffraction for retrieval of photonic structures formed in nanocomposite materials

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to solve the phase problem in diffraction experiments by using multi-wave interference with standard setups, enabling full phase recovery and accurate determination of nanocomposite structures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to phase retrieval in diffraction without auxiliary data, using wavelength tuning to recover Fourier phases of periodic structures.

Findings

Successfully recovered Fourier phases of periodic structures

Accurately determined refractive index profiles of nanocomposite gratings

Demonstrated phase retrieval with light and neutron diffraction

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate how to solve the phase problem of diffraction using multi-wave interference with standard diffraction experimental setups without the need for taking any auxiliary data. In particular, we show that the phases of the Fourier components of a periodic structure can be fully recovered by deliberately choosing a probe wavelength of the diffracting radiation much smaller than the lattice constant. In the course of the demonstration, we accurately determine the refractive index profile of nanocomposite phase gratings by light and neutron diffraction measurements.