Variable Ultra-broadband and Narrowband Composite Polarization Retarders

TL;DR

This paper introduces novel composite polarization retarders that achieve ultra-broadband or narrowband operation, outperforming commercial devices through stacked standard retarders for advanced optical applications.

Contribution

It presents a new design of composite polarization retarders using standard components, enabling superior bandwidth performance compared to existing commercial options.

Findings

Demonstrated ultra-broadband retarders with enhanced spectral performance.

Achieved narrowband retarders with high precision.

Experimental validation confirms superior performance over commercial devices.

Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate novel types of composite sequences of half-wave and quarter-wave polarization retarders, either permitting operation at ultra-broad spectral bandwidth or narrow bandwidth. The retarders are composed of stacked standard half-wave retarders and quarter-wave retarders of equal thickness. To our knowledge, these home-built devices outperform all commercially available compound retarders, made of several birefringent materials.