What are Wire Grid Polarizers?
Wire grid polarizers are commonly used to polarize radiation from an unpolarized molecular laser, attenuate radiation from a polarized laser or, using two in series, to both polarize and attenuate a laser beam. A second polarizer can be inserted in the reflected beam for applications requiring a polarizing beam splitter. Wire grid polarizers are also used in reflectance accessories for dispersive and FT-IR spectrophotometers. Applications include the investigation of metal surfaces and crystal structures at grazing incidence, where polarization of the incident radiation is required.
Wire grid polarizers transmit radiation when the “E” vector is perpendicular to the wire (E ^). Radiation with the “E” vector parallel to the wire (E II) is reflected. Due to surface reflections, the reflected beam contains both polarizations.
