Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2014) 129: 277
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2014-14277-9

Regular Article

Design and fabrication of thin-film polarizer at wavelength of 1540 nm and investigation of its laser-induced damage threshold

¹ Physics department, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
² Isfahan Quantum Optics Group, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

^* e-mail: masoome.sahraei@gmail.com

Received: 18 August 2014
Accepted: 26 November 2014
Published online: 29 December 2014

Abstract

In this paper a thin-film polarizer at a wavelength of 1540 nm was designed and fabricated. These types of polarizer are usually used in laser systems to obtain linearly polarized light beams. Our design consists of a system of eighteen dielectric thin-film layers from repeated pairs of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide layers that are deposited on a BK7 glass substrate. Design was carried out based on theoretical principles and computer calculations. Thin-film design software was used for designing the polarizer. The angle of incidence was supposed to be 56° that is the Browster angle for BK7 glass. Performance and laser-induced damage threshold of the polarizer were enhanced by a suitable selection of various parameters including thickness of each layer, their number and the electric field distribution of layers. After several designs, fabrications and refinement of parameters, the final polarizer was designed. Then the final sample of the polarizer was prepared using the electron beam evaporation (EBE) technique with Balzers BAK 760 coating machine. Spectral transmittance of the sample was measured by Shimadzu 3100 UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. Investigation of spectral transmittance showed that at a wavelength of 1540nm, the transmission of P polarization is 87.82 and the transmission of S polarization is 0.43 which show a ratio (T _P /T _S of 204. So, this ratio is an acceptable value for our desired polarizer.