STUDY ON POLARIZING VISIBLE LIGHT BY SUBWAVELENGTH-PERIOD METAL-STRIPE GRATINGS

One method for influencing the polarization of light is the use of wire-grid polarizers. For the visible region, this type of element can be realized as a metal-stripe grating with periods less than the wavelength. We fabricate metal-stripe gratings with periods down to 190 nm in thin chromium layers of 35-nm thickness using electron-beam lithography and ion-beam etching. A detailed investigation of the influence of grating period and duty cycle on the polarization effect is carried out to verify the conformity of rigorous diffraction theory and experimental results. The comparison between the two indicates good performance. Polarization ratios of the order of 5 with transmission efficiencies of about 60% in TM polarization are obtained. The connection of the polarization effect real- izable and the fabrication technology used is discussed. © 1999 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. (S0091-3286(99)00902-2)

[1]  George R. Bird,et al.  The Wire Grid as a Near-Infrared Polarizer , 1960 .

[2]  M. Gruntman,et al.  Extreme-ultraviolet radiation filtering by freestanding transmission gratings. , 1995, Applied optics.

[3]  N Streibl,et al.  Holographic quarterwave plates. , 1990, Applied optics.

[4]  Lifeng Li,et al.  Use of Fourier series in the analysis of discontinuous periodic structures , 1996 .

[5]  J E Ford,et al.  Polarization-selective computer-generated holograms. , 1993, Optics letters.

[6]  J. Sambles,et al.  Reflection gratings as polarization converters , 1997 .

[7]  Michael T. Gale,et al.  Grid polarizer for the visible spectral region , 1994, Integrated Optoelectronics.

[8]  Ernst-Bernhard Kley,et al.  Fabrication and application of subwavelength gratings , 1997, Photonics West.

[9]  G. J. Sonek,et al.  Ultraviolet grating polarizers , 1981 .

[10]  Alice E. White,et al.  Application of ≊100 Å linewidth structures fabricated by shadowing techniques , 1981 .

[11]  Edward Collett,et al.  Polarized Light , 1992, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology.

[12]  D. Flanders.  Submicrometer periodicity gratings as artificial anisotropic dielectrics , 1983 .

[13]  H. Tamada,et al.  Al wire-grid polarizer using the s-polarization resonance effect at the 0.8-microm-wavelength band. , 1997, Optics letters.

[14]  R. Kostuk,et al.  Lamellar gratings as polarization components for specularly reflected beams , 1993 .

[15]  M. C. Hutley,et al.  Grid polarisers for use in the near infrared , 1972 .

[16]  Jari Turunen,et al.  Form-birefringence limits of Fourier-expansion methods in grating theory , 1996 .

[17]  Ross C. McPhedran,et al.  Lossy Lamellar Gratings in the Quasistatic Limit , 1982 .

[18]  A. Friesem,et al.  Computer-generated relief gratings as space-variant polarization elements. , 1992, Optics letters.

[19]  Elston,et al.  Polarization conversion from diffraction gratings. , 1991, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[20]  S. K. Case,et al.  Optical elements with ultrahigh spatial-frequency surface corrugations. , 1983, Applied optics.

[21]  M. Nevière,et al.  The Homogeneous Problem , 1980 .

[22]  Pochi Yeh,et al.  A new optical model for wire grid polarizers , 1978 .

[23]  E. Anderson,et al.  Extreme-ultraviolet polarization and filtering with gold transmission gratings. , 1995, Applied optics.

[24]  Frank Wyrowski,et al.  Diffractive optical elements with polarization multiplexing , 1997, Other Conferences.

[25]  J. P. Auton,et al.  Infrared transmission polarizers by photolithography. , 1967, Applied optics.

[26]  Yeshaiahu Fainman,et al.  Polarizing beam splitters constructed of form-birefringent multilayer gratings , 1996, Photonics West.

[27]  Daniel H. Raguin,et al.  Subwavelength structured surfaces and their applications , 1993, Optics + Photonics.