NONPOLARIZING BEAMSPLITTER

摘要

A nonpolarizing beamsplitter (10) is provided, comprising a multilayered stack (11) of alternating layers (A, B) of a first material and a second material. The first material layers (A) are uniaxially birefringent, and the second material layers (B) are optionally uniaxially birefringent or isotropic. The layers have index of refraction relationships such that for an incident beam having a useful bandwidth, a p-polarized component and an s-polarized component striking the beamsplitter at any angle of incidence .theta. within a desired range, the beamsplitter exhibits substantially the same average reflectivity for the p-polarized component of the incident beam as for the spolarized component. The invention also includes a method of making a nonpolarizing beamsplitter.