We report on the optical characterization of an ultra-high diffraction efficiency grating in 1st order Littrow configuration. The apparatus used was an optical cavity built from the grating under investigation and an additional high reflection mirror
. Measurement of the cavity finesse provided precise information about the gratings diffraction efficiency and its optical loss. We measured a finesse of 1580 from which we deduced a diffraction efficiency of (99.635$pm$0.016)% and an overall optical loss due to scattering and absorption of just 0.185 %. Such high quality gratings, including the tool used for their characterization, might apply for future gravitational wave detectors. For example the demonstrated cavity itself presents an all-reflective, low-loss Fabry-Perot resonator that might replace conventional arm cavities in advanced high power Michelson interferometers.
