Patterned optical polarising films fabricated by laser writing on stretched silver island multilayers

A patterned submicrometre-thick optical polarising film consisting of a stretched metal island multilayer is presented. The optical anisotropy of the stretched metal island multilayer is lost by heating at a temperature higher than the glass annealing point of the substrate. Non-polarising areas have successfully been formed on the optical polarising film by partially heating with a 1 W-class carbon dioxide laser. By using this technique, deliberately patterned optical polarising films could easily be fabricated