Abstract

Venders typically measure and report on-axis performance of polarization components, such as retarders and polarizers in their data sheets and reports. However, for use in complex tightly specified optical systems, the component is operating in a way not reported in such vendor-supplied data sheet. This creates unwanted polarization effects that should be modeled or measured. To model these polarization effects, conventional ray tracing algorithms which only relate to the optical path length, need to be combined with the polarization dependent surface effects. This is done by supplementing the optical path length with calculations of the polarization ray tracing matrix (PRT). The PRT, is a generalized Jones Matrix, and is a step in calculating the system’s Jones Pupil, a specially varying two by two matrix that describes the polarization effects for a given field across the entrance pupil of an optical system. Two optical systems will be modeled and analyzed. Both systems will be analyzed with the same source, a 0.5 numerical aperture beam at 633 nm, the chief ray will be along the Z-axis and will be parallel to the surface normal of both optical systems. The first optical system is a retarder. The retarder is made out of MgF2 and has a thickness of 0.0134356 mm which makes the wave plate a zero-order quarter wave retarder for 633 nm wavelength light. The crystal axis of the retarder is oriented horizontally along the x-axis. The second optical system is a wire grid polarizer. The wires are made of aluminum are 0.174 μm thick, with a 0.275 μm period. The wires run parallel to the y-axis making the transmission axis horizontal along the x-axis. Figure 1: Optical System 1: Quarter Wave Plate The crystal axis orientation is plotted in blue on the optical system. The incident electric field is 45 degree linear polarized. Figure 2: Optical System 2: Wire Grid Polarizer The orientation of the wires of the wire grid polarizers are plotted in red in the optical system plot. The incident electric field is 45 degree linear polarized (same as the E-field incident on the retarder system).

© 2017 Optical Society of America