Diffractive gratings with period varied by an electric field are developed using a cholesteric liquid crystal confined between two transparent electrodes with unidirectionally treated alignment layers. In the initial state (zero field), the cholesteric layers are parallel to the cell planes. The electric field creates an in-plane modulated structure of variable period. Diffraction regimes of both Raman-Nath and Bragg types are demonstrated. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.