Broadband circular polarizer using stacked chiral polymer films

A scattering-free broadband (9 similar to 120 nm bandwidth) circular polarizer is demonstrated by stacking three chiral polymer films with different pitch lengths. Using 4x4 matrix method, we have theoretically simulated the transmission spectra of each chiral polymer film and the three stacked films. Simulation results agree well with experiment. A broadband circular polarizer with bandwidth ranging from 400 to 736 nm can be achieved by stacking 8 such chiral polymer films together. Simulation results indicate that if a high birefringence (Delta n similar to 0.35) polymer film is employed the number of films can be reduced to three. Potential applications of these circular polarizers for liquid crystal displays, optical communications, and optical remote sensors are discussed. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America