Electroholographic tunable volume grating in the g₄₄ configuration

The g₄₄ grating is an electroholographic transmission grating in which the applied field is perpendicular to both the grating vector and the wave vector of the incident beam. It is argued that in this configuration the incident beam traverses through a periodically rotating index ellipsoid. It is shown that in the g₄₄ configuration the Bragg condition is fulfilled for a specific value of the applied field and for a diffracting beam polarization that is perpendicular to that of the incident beam. Consequently, the g₄₄ grating can be used as an electrically controlled filter. Tunability of 7 nm is demonstrated in a 2 mm thick grating.