Analytical Study of Precision Optical Glass Surface and Its Effect on Some Polarimetric Parameters

Abstract

The performance of many optical glass elements depends on the structure of the surface. The high refractive index of flint glass is advantageous in constructing some optical elements (lenses, prisms, beam splitters, ...). Also, high achromaticity and size reduction in oblique incidence TIR (total internal reflection) phase retarders require high-index glass. The present work is interested in studying the optical properties of the thin surface layer formed on TIR rhomb retarder at different wavelengths to indicate the extent to which this surface layer affects the performance of this TIR rhomb retarder and show how to overcome this effect.