A Discussion of Nonpolarizing Angles in Thin-Film Beam Splitters for Michelson Interferometers

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Abstract
We have investigated the polarization properties of thin-film beam splitters for a wide range of refractive indices and angles of incidence. We have found that the polarizance is zero at certain incident angles for one or two wavelengths in each cycle of the beam splitter. For any angle other than the Brewster angle, however, the polarizance varies significantly over the remainder of the usable wavelength range and at the high angles of incidence required to achieve a nonpolarized wavelength the variation is quite large.