Theoretical and measured performance of diffraction gratings

At the SRS at Daresbury Laboratory, we are undertaking a programme comparing the results from efficiency calculations of diffraction gratings, mainly using the GRADIF code of Neviere, with measured efficiencies. The deviations from the predicted performance are larger for higher orders than for first order. Higher order contamination is important in determining the usability of the beamline for certain types of experiments, particularly at energies below 100 eV.