Micromachined Polarization Beam Splitters for the Visible Spectrum

Abstract

We have built and characterized batch-processed polarization beam splitters (PBS), important optical components to separate the orthogonal TE and TM components of light. The devices were fabricated from thin-film, low-stress silicon nitride membranes and showed excellent performance. By stacking membranes, and a triple-layer PBS produced extinction ratios of 21 and 16dB for reflected and transmitted light rays, respectively.

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