High-performance thin-film polarizing beam splitter operating at angles greater than the critical angle

Li Li; J. A. Dobrowolski

doi:10.1364/AO.39.002754

Applied Optics
Vol. 39,
Issue 16,
pp. 2754-2771
(2000)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.39.002754

High-performance thin-film polarizing beam splitter operating at angles greater than the critical angle

Li Li and J. A. Dobrowolski

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Li Li and J. A. Dobrowolski, "High-performance thin-film polarizing beam splitter operating at angles greater than the critical angle," Appl. Opt. 39, 2754-2771 (2000)

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Abstract

A new type of thin-film polarizing beam splitter (PBS) is proposed that is based on the effects of light interference and frustrated total internal reflection. This PBS has a significantly better performance than conventional thin-film PBS’s. It is nonabsorbing, broadband, and wide angle and has high extinction ratios in both the transmitted and the reflected beams. The principles and theory of this PBS are described in detail. Several PBS’s designed for the visible and the infrared spectral regions are described. The measured results for a prototype visible PBS of this type are presented as well.

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Type of Polarizer or PBS	Principle	Bandwidth	Angular Field	Transmitted Beam	Reflected Beam	Extinction Ratioa	Comments
Polaroid sheet	Polarization-selective absorption	Medium; Visible, near IR	Large	Yes	No	T, medium	Absorbs more than 50% of the incident light
Birefringent	Birefringence plus total internal reflection	Broad; UV, visible, near IR	Large	Yes	Yes	T, high R, high	Limited size, expensive
Wire grid	Diffraction grid size, <λ	Broad; IR, far IR	Large	Yes	Yes	T, low R, low	Available for only the IR region
MacNeille	Brewster angle and thin-film interference	Broad; Visible, near IR	Small	Yes	Yes	T, high R, low	Small angular field
Thin film plate–cube	Thin-film interference	Narrow; UV, visible, IR	Medium	Yes	Yes	T, high R, medium	Narrow bandwidth
Ideal PBS		Broad	Large	Yes	Yes	T, R, high

PBS	IR-1		IR-2		IR-3		IR-4		VIS-1		VIS-2		VIS-IR
No. of Layers	79		81		47		27		45		53		53
Layer	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)
Sub.	2.35	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	1.75	—	1.85	—	1.85	—
1	4.00	22.17	1.45	12.23	4.00	47.41	4.00	34.44	2.35	8.87	2.35	9.94	2.35	12.04
2	1.45	137.56	4.00	87.66	1.45	46.44	1.45	35.26	1.38	42.03	1.38	28.82	1.38	32.93
3	4.00	37.15	1.45	58.51	4.00	93.70	4.00	77.10	2.35	18.18	2.35	17.71	2.35	19.11
4	1.45	98.06	4.00	130.51	1.45	36.79	1.45	31.79	1.38	30.50	1.38	20.62	1.38	23.24
5	4.00	38.19	1.45	66.68	4.00	89.95	4.00	65.16	2.35	15.27	2.35	15.81	2.35	22.44
6	1.45	107.31	4.00	169.97	1.45	49.26	1.45	34.50	1.38	32.71	1.38	20.77	1.38	33.63
7	4.00	40.46	1.45	93.74	4.00	102.37	4.00	97.13	2.35	16.82	2.35	15.86	2.35	26.43
8	1.45	171.02	4.00	213.01	1.45	50.71	1.45	56.32	1.38	50.38	1.38	23.07	1.38	44.19
9	4.00	60.12	1.45	106.23	4.00	132.75	4.00	132.26	2.35	26.92	2.35	17.48	2.35	35.32
10	1.45	185.97	4.00	229.08	1.45	73.13	1.45	68.29	1.38	61.85	1.38	28.37	1.38	51.88
11	4.00	65.56	1.45	110.27	4.00	163.06	4.00	160.94	2.35	30.11	2.35	21.63	2.35	39.78
12	1.45	219.44	4.00	235.05	1.45	80.57	1.45	84.19	1.38	74.25	1.38	34.90	1.38	59.81
13	4.00	74.50	1.45	112.13	4.00	175.66	4.00	185.97	2.35	35.64	2.35	28.36	2.35	45.21
14	1.45	237.59	4.00	237.85	1.45	86.44	1.45	90.82	1.38	86.91	1.38	38.81	1.38	65.78
15	4.00	80.37	1.45	113.13	4.00	187.42	Layers 15–27 same as layers 13–1		2.35	39.68	2.35	27.77	2.35	48.11
16	1.45	255.86	4.00	239.37	1.45	91.16			1.38	97.08	1.38	45.16	1.38	68.59
17	4.00	84.60	1.45	113.74	4.00	194.47			2.35	42.38	2.35	34.62	2.35	49.78
18	1.45	263.45	4.00	240.27	1.45	92.99			1.38	103.48	1.38	50.82	1.38	70.56
19	4.00	86.42	1.45	114.15	4.00	196.51			2.35	43.61	2.35	37.50	2.35	50.89
20	1.45	267.89	4.00	240.84	1.45	93.19			1.38	106.61	1.38	58.24	1.38	71.83
21	4.00	86.95	1.45	114.44	4.00	196.14			2.35	44.06	2.35	42.54	2.35	51.54
22	1.45	265.76	4.00	241.23	1.45	92.69			1.38	107.87	1.38	64.53	1.38	72.54
23	4.00	85.69	1.45	114.64	4.00	195.51			2.35	44.16	2.35	45.87	2.35	51.89
24	1.45	261.93	4.00	241.50	1.45	92.38			Layers 24–45 same as layers 22–1		1.38	69.82	1.38	72.91
25	4.00	84.36	1.45	114.79	Layers 25–47 same as layers 23–1						2.35	48.64	2.35	52.05
26	1.45	255.27	4.00	241.71							1.38	73.08	1.38	73.07
27	4.00	81.31	1.45	114.90							2.35	49.58	2.35	52.10
28	1.45	246.88	4.00	241.83							Layers 28–53 same as layers 26–1		Layers 28–53 same as layers 26–1
29	4.00	79.89	1.45	114.98
30	1.45	241.46	4.00	241.93
31	4.00	75.54	1.45	115.06
32	1.45	227.18	4.00	242.00
33	4.00	75.36	1.45	115.12
34	1.45	231.84	4.00	242.03
35	4.00	70.38	1.45	115.17
36	1.45	205.99	4.00	242.07
37	4.00	71.49	1.45	115.20
38	1.45	230.26	4.00	242.10
39	4.00	68.99	1.45	115.21
40	1.45	195.43	4.00	242.11
41	Layers 41–79 same as layers 39–1		1.45	115.21
…	Layers 41–79 same as layers 39–1		Layers 42–81 same as layer 40–1
Sub.	2.35	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	1.75	—	1.85	—	1.85	—
Σ(n_i d_i) (nm)	23,160.53		41,650.19		16,634.27		7,055.65		3,805.61		3,363.41		4,539.05

Type of Beam	Angular Field in Air
Type of Beam	±7.5°	±5.0°	±4.0°
Transmitted Beam
T _S	>96%	>96%	>96%
T _P	Max. <3.3%	Max. <1.5%	Max. <0.3%
	Avg. <0.18%	Avg. <0.1%	Avg. <0.025%
T _S/T _P	Avg. >500:1	Avg. >1000:1	Avg. >3800:1
Reflected Beam
R _P	>96%	>96%	>96%
R _S	Max. <2.0%	Max. <1.2%	Max. <0.9%
	Avg. <0.28%	Avg. <0.22%	Avg. <0.21%
R _P/R _S	Avg. >300:1	Avg. >400:1	Avg. >450:1
Wavelength (µm)	0.4–0.7	0.4–0.7	0.4–0.7

Type of Polarizer or PBS	Principle	Bandwidth	Angular Field	Transmitted Beam	Reflected Beam	Extinction Ratioa	Comments
Polaroid sheet	Polarization-selective absorption	Medium; Visible, near IR	Large	Yes	No	T, medium	Absorbs more than 50% of the incident light
Birefringent	Birefringence plus total internal reflection	Broad; UV, visible, near IR	Large	Yes	Yes	T, high R, high	Limited size, expensive
Wire grid	Diffraction grid size, <λ	Broad; IR, far IR	Large	Yes	Yes	T, low R, low	Available for only the IR region
MacNeille	Brewster angle and thin-film interference	Broad; Visible, near IR	Small	Yes	Yes	T, high R, low	Small angular field
Thin film plate–cube	Thin-film interference	Narrow; UV, visible, IR	Medium	Yes	Yes	T, high R, medium	Narrow bandwidth
Ideal PBS		Broad	Large	Yes	Yes	T, R, high

PBS	IR-1		IR-2		IR-3		IR-4		VIS-1		VIS-2		VIS-IR
No. of Layers	79		81		47		27		45		53		53
Layer	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)	n	d (nm)
Sub.	2.35	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	1.75	—	1.85	—	1.85	—
1	4.00	22.17	1.45	12.23	4.00	47.41	4.00	34.44	2.35	8.87	2.35	9.94	2.35	12.04
2	1.45	137.56	4.00	87.66	1.45	46.44	1.45	35.26	1.38	42.03	1.38	28.82	1.38	32.93
3	4.00	37.15	1.45	58.51	4.00	93.70	4.00	77.10	2.35	18.18	2.35	17.71	2.35	19.11
4	1.45	98.06	4.00	130.51	1.45	36.79	1.45	31.79	1.38	30.50	1.38	20.62	1.38	23.24
5	4.00	38.19	1.45	66.68	4.00	89.95	4.00	65.16	2.35	15.27	2.35	15.81	2.35	22.44
6	1.45	107.31	4.00	169.97	1.45	49.26	1.45	34.50	1.38	32.71	1.38	20.77	1.38	33.63
7	4.00	40.46	1.45	93.74	4.00	102.37	4.00	97.13	2.35	16.82	2.35	15.86	2.35	26.43
8	1.45	171.02	4.00	213.01	1.45	50.71	1.45	56.32	1.38	50.38	1.38	23.07	1.38	44.19
9	4.00	60.12	1.45	106.23	4.00	132.75	4.00	132.26	2.35	26.92	2.35	17.48	2.35	35.32
10	1.45	185.97	4.00	229.08	1.45	73.13	1.45	68.29	1.38	61.85	1.38	28.37	1.38	51.88
11	4.00	65.56	1.45	110.27	4.00	163.06	4.00	160.94	2.35	30.11	2.35	21.63	2.35	39.78
12	1.45	219.44	4.00	235.05	1.45	80.57	1.45	84.19	1.38	74.25	1.38	34.90	1.38	59.81
13	4.00	74.50	1.45	112.13	4.00	175.66	4.00	185.97	2.35	35.64	2.35	28.36	2.35	45.21
14	1.45	237.59	4.00	237.85	1.45	86.44	1.45	90.82	1.38	86.91	1.38	38.81	1.38	65.78
15	4.00	80.37	1.45	113.13	4.00	187.42	Layers 15–27 same as layers 13–1		2.35	39.68	2.35	27.77	2.35	48.11
16	1.45	255.86	4.00	239.37	1.45	91.16			1.38	97.08	1.38	45.16	1.38	68.59
17	4.00	84.60	1.45	113.74	4.00	194.47			2.35	42.38	2.35	34.62	2.35	49.78
18	1.45	263.45	4.00	240.27	1.45	92.99			1.38	103.48	1.38	50.82	1.38	70.56
19	4.00	86.42	1.45	114.15	4.00	196.51			2.35	43.61	2.35	37.50	2.35	50.89
20	1.45	267.89	4.00	240.84	1.45	93.19			1.38	106.61	1.38	58.24	1.38	71.83
21	4.00	86.95	1.45	114.44	4.00	196.14			2.35	44.06	2.35	42.54	2.35	51.54
22	1.45	265.76	4.00	241.23	1.45	92.69			1.38	107.87	1.38	64.53	1.38	72.54
23	4.00	85.69	1.45	114.64	4.00	195.51			2.35	44.16	2.35	45.87	2.35	51.89
24	1.45	261.93	4.00	241.50	1.45	92.38			Layers 24–45 same as layers 22–1		1.38	69.82	1.38	72.91
25	4.00	84.36	1.45	114.79	Layers 25–47 same as layers 23–1						2.35	48.64	2.35	52.05
26	1.45	255.27	4.00	241.71							1.38	73.08	1.38	73.07
27	4.00	81.31	1.45	114.90							2.35	49.58	2.35	52.10
28	1.45	246.88	4.00	241.83							Layers 28–53 same as layers 26–1		Layers 28–53 same as layers 26–1
29	4.00	79.89	1.45	114.98
30	1.45	241.46	4.00	241.93
31	4.00	75.54	1.45	115.06
32	1.45	227.18	4.00	242.00
33	4.00	75.36	1.45	115.12
34	1.45	231.84	4.00	242.03
35	4.00	70.38	1.45	115.17
36	1.45	205.99	4.00	242.07
37	4.00	71.49	1.45	115.20
38	1.45	230.26	4.00	242.10
39	4.00	68.99	1.45	115.21
40	1.45	195.43	4.00	242.11
41	Layers 41–79 same as layers 39–1		1.45	115.21
…	Layers 41–79 same as layers 39–1		Layers 42–81 same as layer 40–1
Sub.	2.35	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	3.40	—	1.75	—	1.85	—	1.85	—
Σ(n_i d_i) (nm)	23,160.53		41,650.19		16,634.27		7,055.65		3,805.61		3,363.41		4,539.05

Abstract

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Applied Optics