A wave plate is also called a phase retarder, which is an optical element that changes the polarization state of light by generating an optical path difference (or phase difference) between two mutually orthogonal polarization components. When the incident light passes through different types of parameter wave plates, the emitted light is different, and it can be linearly polarized light, elliptically polarized light, circularly polarized light, and so on. The main materials of wave plates are birefringent crystals such as quartz, mica, and calcite. United Optical can provide glued zero-order 1/2 delay wave plates, glued zero-order 1/4 delay wave plates, multi-stage 1/2 delay wave plates, multi-stage 1/4 delay wave plates, etc. Compound Zero-Order Waveplate (Compound Zero-Order Waveplate), also called compound waveplate, is to glue two multi-order waveplates together. By aligning the fast axis of one waveplate with the slow axis of the other waveplate, it is used Eliminate the full-wave optical path difference, and leave the required optical path difference. Gluing the zero-order wave plate can improve the influence of temperature on the wave plate, but it also increases the sensitivity of the wave plate retardation to the incident angle and wavelength. The thickness of a multiple-order waveplate is equal to multiple full-wave thicknesses plus a required retardation thickness. Multi-level wave plates are easy to manufacture, but they are sensitive to wavelength, temperature, and incident angle.
Zero-order waveplate
Gluing the zero-order wave plate is to glue two multi-order waveplates together. Gluing the wave plate can improve the influence of temperature on the wave plate to a certain extent, but it increases the sensitivity of the retardation of the wave plate to wavelength and incident angle.
Multi-stage wave plate
The thickness of the multi-stage wave plate is equal to multiple full-wave thicknesses plus a required retardation thickness. Multi-stage wave plates are relatively easy to manufacture, but they are sensitive to temperature, wavelength, and angle of incidence.
Achromatic glass slide
The wave plate is composed of quartz crystal and magnesium fluoride (MgF2), which can effectively reduce the influence of wavelength on the phase retardation. Its characteristic is that an approximately flat spectral response can be obtained in the entire working wavelength range. There are three working wavelength ranges of 400-700nm, 700-1100nm, and 1100-1650nm for you to choose from. At the same time, we can also customize the achromatic waveplate to meet your requirements according to your specific needs.
