Phase shift of polarized light through sculptured thin films: Experimental measurements and theoretical study

Abstract

A slanted columnar TiO2 sculptured anisotropic thin film (ATF) is prepared via the glancing angle deposition technique and used as the phase retardation plate. The tilted nanocolumn microstructures of thin film induce the optical anisotropy. With the biaxial birefringent model, the optical constants dispersion equations of TiO2 ATF are derived by fitting the transmittance spectra for s- and p-polarized waves measured at normal and oblique incidence within 400 nm–1200 nm. The phase shift of polarized light after reflection and/or transmission through the TiO2 ATF is analyzed with the characteristic matrix employing the extracted structure parameters. The theoretical studies reasonably well accord with the experimental results measured with spectroscopic ellipsometry. In addition, the dependences of the phase shift on the coating physical thickness and oblique incidence angle are also discussed. Birefringence of the biaxial ATF provides a sophisticated phase modulation by varying incidence angles over a broad range to have a wide-angle phase shift.

Homogeneity analysis of sculptured thin films deposited in symmetric style through glancing angle deposition technique

“…The nonuniformity can almost reach 10% for the STF with a 50 mm diameter in our previous experiments. In order to obtain 90 • phase retardation in the visible range, [28] the thickness of STF is about several microns generally. Therefore, nonuniform monolayer STFs (IMSs) with different thickness values ranging from 1820 nm to 2180 nm are constructed as shown in Fig.…”

The design and preparation of a Fabry-Pérot polarizing filter

“…In our design, HfO 2 with n H = 1.921 and SiO 2 with n L = 1.451 are used to construct the HR mirrors for the filter. A slanted columnar TiO 2 ATF with the optical constants, including three principal refractive indices n 1 = 1.709, n 2 = 1.659, n 3 = 1.762, and the column angle β = 39.36 • , [10] is used as the space layer. The incident medium and substrate are homogeneous, and they are isotropic air and BK7 glass, respectively.…”

PbS nanosculptured thin film for phase retarder, anti-reflective, excellent absorber, polarizer and sensor applications

“…In this area Lakhtakia et al exploited the concept of STFs and provided a theoretical and experimental explanation for linear as well as nonlinear phenomena [21]. Qiang et al performed an experimental and theoretical study for the phase shift of polarized light through TiO 2 biaxial anisotropic STF [22]. Recently, a few groups investigated superior thermo-chromic properties for smart window applications with these STFs [23][24][25].…”