Wave Plates
Keywords:
Laser Crystals
Magneto-Optic Crystals
Scintillation Crystals
- Product Introduction
- Key advantages
- Application areas
- Product Features
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- Commodity name: Wave Plates
Wave Plate, also known as a phase retarder, introduces a relative phase delay between two mutually perpendicular polarization components of light, thereby altering its polarization characteristics.
Overview of Waveplates
Wave Plate, also known as a phase retarder, introduces a relative phase delay between two mutually perpendicular polarization components of light, thereby altering its polarization characteristics.
Commonly, wave plates are made from quartz crystals and come in two main types: half-wave plates and quarter-wave plates. When ordering a wave plate, be sure to specify the wavelength, phase delay, aperture size, and the specific type—whether it’s a zero-order or multi-order wave plate.
Half-Wave Plate
After passing through a half-wave plate, linearly polarized light remains linearly polarized—but its plane of vibration is rotated by 2θ relative to the original plane of the incident linearly polarized light. For instance, if θ = 45°, the plane of vibration of the outgoing light becomes perpendicular to that of the original incoming light. In other words, when θ equals 45°, the half-wave plate can rotate the polarization state by 90°. Additionally, the half-wave plate can be used in conjunction with a PBS; by rotating the half-wave plate, we can create a beam splitter prism with a continuously adjustable splitting ratio.
Quarter-Wave Plate
When the angle θ between the incident vibration plane of polarized light and the optical axis of the wave plate is 45°, the light passing through the quarter-wave plate becomes circularly polarized. Conversely, when circularly polarized light passes through a quarter-wave plate, it transforms into linearly polarized light. Interestingly, if light passes through the quarter-wave plate twice in succession, the effect is equivalent to that of a half-wave plate. Additionally, the quarter-wave plate can be used in conjunction with a PBS to achieve the function of an optical isolator.
Wave Plate Type
Type
Features
Level Zero
Gluing
UV adhesive bonding offers a wide temperature range and broad wavelength bandwidth.
Optical adhesive
Optical path is adhesive-free, with a wide temperature range and broad wavelength bandwidth.
High damage threshold, excellent wavefront distortion control, and superior parallelism
Air gap
Optical path is adhesive-free, features a mounting bracket, and offers a wide temperature range.
Large wavelength bandwidth, high damage threshold
True Zeroth Level
Gluing
UV adhesive bonding with a wide temperature range,
Large wavelength bandwidth, excellent latency performance
Single-chip
Single-piece design, featuring a wide temperature bandwidth, broad wavelength bandwidth, and high damage threshold—primarily used in communication bands such as 1310 nm and 1550 nm.
Low-level (multi-level)
Smaller temperature bandwidth, smaller wavelength bandwidth,
High damage threshold, with a price lower than that of a zero-order waveplate.
Dual Wavelength
Achieving the desired phase delay simultaneously at two wavelengths
Achromatic Waveplate
Wide temperature bandwidth, ultra-wide wavelength bandwidth
Glued and Air-Gap Types
Application Areas
Wave Plates are primarily used in laser technology and optical communications, optical measurement and sensing, optical instruments, display imaging technologies, industrial processing and inspection, astronomical remote sensing, medical biotechnology, and polarization conversion.
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Window films are widely used across multiple fields, including optical instruments, medicine, laser technology, security, defense industries, machine vision, industrial lenses, microscopes, imaging systems, industrial equipment, and more.
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