Polarization Beamsplitter Cubes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Niles
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Polarization
AI Thread Summary
When a linearly polarized laser beam passes through a polarization beamsplitter (PBS) oriented parallel to its polarization, it reflects completely. For an elliptically polarized beam with its long axis parallel to the PBS coating, the reflected beam results from the projection of the ellipse onto the axis of the PBS. This projection can be understood as a linear combination of vertical and horizontal components, with each component reflecting in different directions. The vertical component reflects one way, while the horizontal component reflects another, leading to a complex output. Understanding this behavior is crucial for applications involving polarization optics.
Niles
Messages
1,834
Reaction score
0
Hi

Say I have a laser beam, which is linearly polarized. Now I let it pass through a polarization beamsplitter cube (PBS). If I orient the PBS such that the polarization of light is "parallel" to the coating/cement (nicely illustrated here: http://www.thorlabs.com/images/TabImages/BS_PolarizedCube2.gif), I get 100% reflection (the red beam).

Say my beam is elliptically polarized instead with the long axis parallel to the cement. Is it correct that the reflected beam is merely the projection of the ellipse onto the axis parallel to the cement?

Help is greatly appreciated. I have thought about this for some time, and I can't figure it out. Hecht's "Optics" doesn't explain it either.

Best wishes,
Niles.
 
Science news on Phys.org
Yes.
You may treat elliptically polarized beam as a linear combination of vertical and horizontal waves, shifted in phase by 90^\circ. The vertical part will be reflected in one direction, the horizontal one in another in your cube.
 
Thread 'Simple math model for a Particle Image Velocimetry system'

Thread 'Simple math model for a Particle Image Velocimetry system'

Hello togehter, I am new to this forum and hope this post followed all the guidelines here (I tried to summarized my issue as clean as possible, two pictures are attached). I would appreciate every help: I am doing research on a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system. For this I want to set a simple math model for the system. I hope you can help me out. Regarding this I have 2 main Questions. 1. I am trying to find a math model which is describing what is happening in a simple Particle...
View full post »
Thread 'How to model converging illumination through object plane (in ZEMAX)'

Thread 'How to model converging illumination through object plane (in ZEMAX)'

Hello community, I'm designing a projection lens system for a 35mm film projector in Zemax OpticStudio and struggling with the correct sequential mode setup for the illumination geometry. The light source is a Xenon short-arc lamp reflected by an ellipsoid mirror, which creates a converging cone with a 40.6 degree full angle that passes through the film gate. The film gate is my object plane, but the light doesn't diverge from it like a typical Lambertian source. Instead, the converging...
View full post »

Similar threads

I How Does Rotating Polarization Work in Optics Experiments?
Replies
5
Views
2K
Why Is My Nd:YAG Laser Beam Quality Deteriorating?
Replies
6
Views
2K
Experimentally measure the degree of circular polarization
Replies
6
Views
5K
How to Safely Clean and Remove Residues from a Polarizing Beamsplitter Cube
Replies
2
Views
3K
About polarization and polarizer
Replies
4
Views
2K
How Can I Mathematically Represent the Polarization of a Laser Beam?
Replies
1
Views
6K
B "Mysterious" beamsplitter cube
Replies
4
Views
2K
I What happens when circular polarization meets a diagonal polarizer?
Replies
20
Views
3K
I Is this a valid quantum Cheshire cat?
Replies
13
Views
2K
I How to create the operator of unknown beamsplitter
Replies
2
Views
1K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top