I wonder why diffraction gratings, though could be manufactured similar to CD/DVDs, are still so expensive. There are lots of hologram stickers in the market which are also based on a similar technology but are way more cheaper than gratings.
Is there any solid factor behind this fact?
Diffraction gratings (at least when regarding 'reasonable' quality) are quite error sensitive: if you have an error in the area used, this will disturb precision measurements.
In contrast, the coding scheme for data on DVDs is designed to detect and correct quite high numbers of errors. Thus the production process is 'demanding', but still 'relaxed' compared to the fabrication of diffraction gratings.
Another factor is the 'factor of quantity': a factor of 10 in demand roughly divides the prize per unit by 2. (The divisor may vary on individual devices - the '2' is some average.)
So, if you can raise the demand for diffraction gratings to the millions per year, the prize will drop significantly :)
Regards
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