With the layer design developed by LASER COMPONENTS, it is now possible to separate the polarizations of three wavelengths simultaneously. The optics, which are manufactured according to customer specifications, can be used, among other things, to combine linearly polarized laser beams from several sources. It does not matter whether they have the same or different wavelengths. Similarly, it is also possible to separate the unpolarized light of three wavelengths into their polarizations simultaneously.
The trichroic thin-film polarizer is designed for an angle of incidence of 45° and exhibits excellent reflection properties for red (640 nm), green (520 nm), and blue (450 nm) light for s-polarization. The p-polarization, on the other hand, is almost completely transmitted.
The production of such polarizers requires particularly compact layers with a low layer thickness tolerance. The manufacturer achieves these properties with a modern ion beam sputtering (IBS) coating system. In the process, the coating material is removed from a target by an ion beam and atomized (sputtered). Therefore, the material particles have a very high kinetic energy and are very mobile when deposited on the substrate. This enables particularly compact layers, and considerably more complex designs can be created than with other processes.
