Conversion Of Circularly Polarized Light Into Linearly Polarized Light In Anisotropic Phase Gratings Using Photo-Cross-Linkable Polymer Liquid Crystals

The polarization state of the diffraction light from the polarization holographic grating on varying the polarization conditions of the writing beams has been investigated on the basis of Jones theory. The authors found that the polarization holographic grating, which was fabricated by irradiating the two writing beams with around 0.2 of polarization ellipticity, could convert circularly polarized light into linearly polarized light, and the anisotropic phase grating under above-mentioned condition was really fabricated using the photo-cross-linkable polymer liquid crystal. This function, not observed in the conventional polarization gratings, should be widely applied as highly functionalized optical devices. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.