IMPROVED WIRE-GRID POLARIZING BEAM SPLITTER

摘要

A wire grid polarizing beam splitter (14) has a generally parallel arrangement of thin, elongated elements (30) on a substrate (40) which interact with electromagnetic waves of a source light beam to generally transmit or pass light of one polarization, and reflect light of the other polarization. The arrangement of elements has a throughput greater than approximately 50%, and an extinction greater than approximately 100. In addition, the arrangement of elements has a period less than approximately 0.21 mu m, and a width (w) to period (p) ratio of between approximately 0.25 to 0.76. The elements have a thickness of between approximately 0.05 to 0.5 mu m.