Abstract
The conventional optical attenuator for linearly polarized light is constructed with a half-wave retardation plate and a polarizer and works by rotating incident linearly polarized light so that the power transmitted by the polarizer has a cos22θ dependence, where θ is the angle between the optic axis of the waveplate and the incident electric field vector If the incident light is not completely linearly polarized, but has a small orthogonal component, then as the waveplate is rotated to reduce the net power, the unwanted orthogonal field component is increased as measured past the polarizer. Hence, the net power does not go to zero.
© 1991 Optical Society of America
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