Polarizing beam splitter of a deep-etched fused-silica grating

TLDR: A highly efficient polarizing beam splitter of a deep-etched binary-phase fused-silica grating, where TE- and TM-polarized waves are mainly diffracted in the -1st and 0th orders, respectively is described.

Abstract: We described a highly efficient polarizing beam splitter (PBS) of a deep-etched binary-phase fused-silica grating, where TE- and TM-polarized waves are mainly diffracted in the −1st and 0th orders, respectively. To achieve a high extinction ratio and diffraction efficiency, the grating depth and period are optimized by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis, which can be well explained based on the modal method with effective indices of the modes for TE/TM polarization. Holographic recording technology and inductively coupled plasma etching are employed to fabricate the fused-silica PBS grating. Experimental results of diffraction efficiencies approaching 80% for a TE-polarized wave in the −1st order and more than 85% for a TM-polarized wave in the 0th order were obtained at a wavelength of 1550nm. Because of its compact structure and simple fabrication process, which is suitable for mass reproduction, a deep-etched fused-silica grating as a PBS should be a useful device for practical applications.