Study on the degree of polarization of the wire grid polarizer

Abstract

The wire grid polarizer with a particular degree of polarization is an important reference in polarization calibration field in recent years. In this paper, the wire grid polarizer at a wavelength of 670 nm was analyzed. To obtain five different degrees of polarization, five wire grids profiles were optimized by using rigorous coupled-wave theory. The profile of the wire grid was rectangular surface-relief grating, which was determined by the period, the duty cycle, the groove depth and the metal material. We also studied the effects of the deviations of the wire grid profile from optimized parameters on the degrees of polarization and transmittance. Holographic lithography and ion beam etching will be adopted to fabricate the wire grids in late 2017.