Depolarization of quasi-monochromatic light by thin resonant gratings

Opt Lett. 2009 Jun 1;34(11):1648-50. doi: 10.1364/ol.34.001648.

Abstract

Using rigorous diffraction theory, we show that it is possible to depolarize quasi-monochromatic light using a fully deterministic, thin optical element. The principle is based on polarization-sensitive resonant gratings in total-internal-reflection configuration, and careful numerical design by the Fourier modal method. We present numerical examples for 0.1 nm and 10 nm bandwidths.