Polarization-Independent Optical Broadband Angular Selectivity

Journal Article · 31 August 2018 · ACS Photonics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.8b00862 · OSTI ID:1566581

Qu, Yurui  ^[1]; Shen, Yichen ^[2]; Yin, Kezhen ^[3]; Yang, Yuanqing  ^[4]; Li, Qiang ^[5]; Qiu, Min ^[5]; Soljačić, Marin ^[2]

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1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China)
2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
3. Mantaline Corp., Mantua, OH (United States)
4. Univ. of Southern Denmark, Odense (Denmark)
5. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China)

Generalizing broadband angular selectivity to both polarizations has been a scientific challenge for a long time. Previous demonstrations of the broadband angular selectivity work only for one polarization. In this paper, we propose a method that can achieve polarization-independent optical broadband angular selectivity. Our design is based on a material system consisting of alternating one-dimensionally anisotropic photonic crystal (1D PhC) stacks and half-wave plates. 1D PhC stacks have an angular photonic band gap for p-polarized light and half-wave plates can convert s-polarized light to p-polarized light. Here, by introducing alternating 1D PhC stacks and half-wave plates, we predict that one can achieve a central transmission angle at normal incidence and an angularly selective range of less than 30° across the whole visible spectrum.

• Research Organization: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0001299
• OSTI ID: 1566581
• Journal Information: ACS Photonics, Vol. 5, Issue 10; ISSN 2330-4022
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English