Ruled and holographic gratings experiment (A0138-5)

The behavior of ruled and holographic gratings with various coatings after extended exposure to the space environments was examined. The coatings and differentiating between the influences of vacuum and solar illumination were examined. In the past, several ruled and holographic gratings with various coatings were successfully flown on rocket experiments. Future utilizations of such gratings are considered for the Space Telescope and for various Spacelab projects under development. The techniques which is used to replicate gratings can also be used to obtain a wide range of lightweight optical components, including sophisticated aspherical, highly polished mirrors.