3M PP2500™ film as quarter wave retarder for light at nm

Wave-plate retarders based on overhead transparencies

“…We found that for the polarization perpendicular to the plane of the sheet, n = 1.43 − 1.58 (the spread is due to both inaccuracy and birefringence) and for the polarization in the plane of the sheet n = 1.34 − 1.65 with error of measurements about 0.05, in disagreement with Ref. [6].…”

“…[14] for polyester biaxial stretched films, n = 1.66, while measurements in Ref. [6] for 3M PP2500 films gave different result, n ≈ 1.83. Such a high refractive index is for transparent organic materials which consist mostly of carbon and hydrogen, with single molecular bonds, and have similar densities.…”

“…T M polyester film was proposed [5,6] and some properties of this film were investigated. While this film is inexpensive, it is not commonly found in a laboratory.…”

“…For example, ordinary cellophane used in commercial packaging can be very close to a half-wave thickness for visible light, as mentioned by Richard Feynman in his famous lectures [4], and wave plates can be constructed from this material. Recently, construction of a quarterwave retarder for light at λ = 632.8 nm from the 3M PP2500 T M polyester film was proposed [5,6] and some properties of this film were investigated. While this film is inexpensive, it is not commonly found in a laboratory.…”

<title>Ronchi retarder gratings as polarization modulators</title>

“…Other material that can be made, as retarder is the cellophane film, and this exhibits the same behavior as half wave retarder plate for visible spectrum from 400 nm to 700 nm 1,2 .…”