Submicrometre-thick optical polarising films for 800 nm using stretched silver island films

An ultra-thin optical polarising film consisting of stretched metal island films has been investigated for commercially available 800 nm laser diodes. The authors have experimentally found that silver is the most useful choice of metal for 800 nm for island films, compared with other metals such as gold, copper, and aluminium. The 0.3 μm thick polarising films with an extinction ratio of 20 dB and an insertion loss of 0.8 dB have been fabricated by stretching the multilayers consisting of seven layers of 15 nm thick silver islands. These polarising films could be useful for optical sensors or short-distance optical communication systems