Experimental realization of a high-contrast grating based broadband quarter-wave plate

Opt Express. 2012 Dec 3;20(25):27966-73. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.027966.

Abstract

Fabrication and experimental characterization of a broadband quarter-wave plate, which is based on two-dimensional and binary silicon high-contrast gratings, are reported. The quarter-wave plate feature is achieved by the utilization of a regime, in which the proposed grating structure exhibits nearly total and approximately equal transmission of transverse electric and transverse magnetic waves with a phase difference of approximately π/2. The numerical and experimental results suggest a percent bandwidth of 42% and 33%, respectively, if the operation regime is defined as the range for which the conversion efficiency is higher than 0.9. A compact circular polarizer can be implemented by combining the grating with a linear polarizer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aluminum Oxide / chemistry
  • Computer-Aided Design
  • Electromagnetic Radiation*
  • Fiber Optic Technology / methods*
  • Liquid Crystals
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Silicon / chemistry

Substances

  • Aluminum Oxide
  • Silicon