Wave-plate is used to control polarization state of polarized beam. YongXun Optics offer complete series of wave-plates, include achromatic wave-plate, zero order wave-plate, multi order wave-plate, dual wavelength wave-plate, telecom wave-plate. YongXun Optics can also provide ring mount and rotate mount for wave-plate.
（1）Types of wave-plates：
|
Type |
Angle Bandwidth |
Temperature Bandwidth |
Wavelength Bandwidth |
Damage threshold |
|
|
Multi Order |
Narrow |
Narrow |
Narrow |
High |
|
|
Zero Order |
Cemented |
Moderate |
Moderate |
Narrow |
Moderate |
|
Optical Contacted |
Moderate |
Wide |
Narrow |
High |
|
|
Air Spaced |
Moderate |
Wide |
Narrow |
High |
|
|
True Zero Order |
Cemented |
Wide |
Moderate |
Narrow |
Moderate |
|
Single Plate |
Wide |
Wide |
Narrow |
High |
|
|
Dual Wavelength |
Narrow |
Narrow |
Dual Wavelength |
High |
|
|
Achromatic |
Cemented |
Wide |
Wide |
Very Wide |
Moderate |
|
Optical Contacted |
Wide |
Wide |
Very Wide |
High |
|
（2）How to choose a wave-plate?
Firstly, you should know the retardation, is it a half wave-plate or a quarter wave-plate? Or even a special retardation? Then, you should know the size and working wavelength. This is important for wave-plate. The retardation is different at different wavelength. It depends on wavelength. After confirm these conditions, we should choose a type of wave-plate. If temperature bandwidth and wavelength bandwidth is important for you, you should choose zero order or true zero order. For zero order, optical contacted has better wave-front distortion and parallelism, air spaced has high damage threshold. True zero order is better than zero order wave-plate at all parameters and can be used at more critical application. When temperature bandwidth and wavelength bandwidth is not a problem for you, multi order is a better choice, it is cheap. If a zero order or true zero order wave-plate does not offer retardance over a wide enough wavelength band, one solution is to use an achromatic wave-plate, it has over hundreds of nanometers bandwidth. For detailed information, please refer to above table or contact us.
（3）Specifications of the wave-plate?
|
Item |
Specifications |
|
Material |
Crystal Quartz or Quartz+MgF2 and etc. |
|
Dimension X×Y(φ) |
0.5×0.5~50×50mm；φ0.5~φ50mm |
|
Dimension tolerance |
±0.05mm |
|
Parallelism |
＜3 ″ |
|
Clear aperture |
85% |
|
Surface quality |
MIL20-10 |
|
Retardation tolerance |
λ/500 per center wavelength |
|
Wavefront |
λ/10@ 632.8nm |
|
Coating |
AR,HR@ per center wavelength or specified by customer |
|
Optical axis tolerance |
＜ 0.1° |