The design and preparation of a Fabry-Pérot polarizing filter

A novel single-cavity narrowband Fabry—Pérot (FP) polarizing filter at normal incidence, constructed from a sandwich structure with sculptured anisotropic space layer and symmetric isotropic HR mirrors, is designed and prepared. The optical performances of transmittance, phase shift, central wavelength, and bandwidth for two polarized states are analyzed with the characteristic matrix. The numerical studies accord reasonably well with the experimental results. It is demonstrated that the polarization state of the electromagnetic wave and phase shift can be modulated by employing an anisotropic space layer in the polarizing beam splitter system. The birefringence of the anisotropic space layer provides a sophisticated phase modulation by varying the incidence angles over a broad range to have a wide-angle phase shift. (rapid communication)