We propose achromatic quarter-wave plates of a subwavelength grating s
tructure. When the period of the grating structure is smaller than the
wavelengths of the incident light, the structure is considered to be
an optically anisotropic medium. The effective refractive indices stro
ngly depend on the wavelengths, especially when the period is close to
the wavelength. Using this feature, we can design a grating quarter-w
ave plate whose phase retardation is maintained at pi/2 for a wide wav
elength range. A design method using the effective medium theory is de
scribed, and the wave plates designed were evaluated by numerical calc
ulation with a rigorous electromagnetic grating theory. The calculatio
n results led to the possibility of an achromatic quarter-wave plate w
hose retardation errors are smaller than 3 degrees for a +/-10% change
in wavelength. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.