Nearly-off-axis transmissivity of Solc birefringent filters.

Abstract

The characteristics of light propagating near the axis of a birefringent filter are studied. A generalized formulation to describe the nearly-off-axis transmissivity of a Solc birefringent filter is derived. On this basis, the polarization conoscopic figures of Solc filters with different numbers of birefringent plates are simulated. Furthermore the variation of spectral transmission with angle of incidence is analyzed, and the field-of-view transmissivity and the spectral transmissivity averaged with respect to the spread of incident light are given. Primary experiments for verification are also demonstrated.