Design of a Fused-Silica Subwavelength Polarizing Beam Splitter Grating Based on the Modal Method

Abstract

A polarizing beam splitter (PBS) design based on a fused-silica lamellar subwavelength transmission grating is demonstrated with the modal method, where TE-and TM-polarized waves are mainly diffracted in the −1 st and 0 th orders, respectively. The physical explanation of the grating diffraction is illustrated by the interference of the corresponding parts of the two propagating modes, which is very similar to a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. It is shown that diffraction efficients over 99% for a TM-polarized wave in the −1 st order and 90% for a TE-polarized wave in the 0 th order are obtained at the wavelength of 1.053 𝜇m. The polarization transmission extinction ratios are better than 33 dB and 51 dB for the order 0 th and the −1 st order, respectively. The splitting properties of the PBS grating designed by the modal method are in good agreement with the results simulated by the rigorous coupled wave analysis method.