Optical characteristics of stretched silver island multilayers for submicrometer-thick optical polarizing films

We fabricated submicrometer-thick optical polarizing films at a wavelength of 1300 nm with extinction ratios of greater than or equal to 30 dB by stretching periodic multilayers of silver island layers and glass layers. We compared the measured and theoretical optical characteristics of the polarizing films. The measured optical characteristics were quantitatively different from preliminary theoretical ones reported in an earlier paper [Opt. Lett. 16, 964 (1991)]. We have improved the theory by considering the distribution in silver island shapes and the difference between the stretching ratios of the glass layers and the silver islands. We have successfully elucidated the optical characteristics of the fabricated optical polarizing films. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America.