High-performance thin-film polarizing beam splitter operating at angles greater than the critical angle

A new type of thin-film polarizing beam splitter (PBS) is proposed that is based on the effects of light interference and frustrated total internal re flection. This PBS has a significantly better performance than conventional thin-film PBS's. It is nonabsorbing, broadband, and wide angle and has hig h extinction ratios in both the transmitted and the reflected beams. The pr inciples and theory of this PBS are described in detail. Several PBS's desi gned for the visible and the infrared spectral regions are described The me asured results for a prototype visible PBS of this type are presented as we ll. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 310.0310, 310.1620, 260 .6970, 260.3160.