Mid-infrared tunable optical polarization converter composed of asymmetric graphene nanocrosses

We present a mid-IR highly tunable optical polarization converter composed of asymmetric graphene nanocrosses. It can convert linearly polarized light to circularly and elliptically polarized light or exhibit a giant optical activity at different wavelengths. The transmitted wavelength and polarization states can also be dynamically tuned by varying the Fermi energy of graphene, without reoptimizing and refabricating the nanostructures. This offers a further step in developing a controllable polarization converter. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America