High-performance thin film polarizer for the UV and visible spectral regions

Abstract

The practical limitations on the performance of a conventional MacNeille prism polarizer can be overcome if a liquid is used as the prism material. In particular it is possible to construct large aperture polarizers suitable for use with high power lasers in the UV, visible and near IR spectral regions. The width of the effective spectral region and the polarizing efficiency of the polarizer can be controlled almost at will. The losses in the transmitted beam can be low. The values of the optical thicknesses of the layers are not very critical and the cost of the device is low compared to that of any other polarizer having the same aperture and performance. Results will be given of numerical calculations and of experimental measurements.