Optical Elements with Subwavelength Structured Surfaces

Several optical elements with subwavelength structured (SWS) surfaces have been developed. The SWS has optical features of artificial refractive index, form birefringence, resonance and band-gap effects. This paper describes some applications of form birefringent optical elements and a resonant reflection element. A form-birefringent quarter-wave plate was realized by sputtering the high refractive-index thin film on a SWS substrate. The wavelength dispersion of form birefringence restrains the phase retardance from depending on the wavelength of light. An array of form-birefringent wave-plates is useful for the real-time imaging polarimetry. We developed a real-time polarization imaging system for the visible light. A guided-mode resonant grating with a PLZT wave-guide was designed for optical switches. The PLZT is ferroelectric material with an electro-optic (EO) effect. We made a feasibility study on the optical switching by numerical simulations.

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