BREWSTER POLARIZERS

Brewster polarizers are used to produce linear polarization of light via transmission through a transparent plate at non-normal incidence. Solaris Optics offer custom fabrication services of high-quality Brewster polarizers at company’s facilities in Warsaw, Poland.
 
By tilting the optical surface at so called Brewster angle, the part of randomly polarized incident beam that is polarized parallelly to the plane of incidence (p-polarized component) is passed as a linearly polarized beam with almost 100% transmission rate. The remaining s-polarized component is reflected with losses from the surface at a separate direction and can be dumped or recombined. This phenomenon uses the fact that the light has different reflectance based on the electric vector position relatively to the plane of incidence. The Brewster angle can be calculated based on the index of refraction of the optical material. Brewster polarizers are usually used in series to provide linear polarization at high extinction ratio from randomly or partially polarized light.
 
By avoiding the use of AR coatings, Brewster polarizers are suitable for application operating with considerable energy densities, such as those using high-power laser sources. As such, the accuracy of fabrication and optical surface quality plays a significant role in ensuring high damage threshold and minimizing absorption or scatter losses. Solaris Optics operates a complete production cycle for Brewster polarizers, from surfacing to high accuracy finishing processes, state of art measurement equipment and range of possible AR coatings.
 
Please contact us for more information regarding polarizers and our manufacturing services.

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