Wave-plate polarizing beam splitter based on a form-birefringent multilayer grating

We have fabricated a novel device that acts as a quarter-wave plate at normal incidence and as a polarizing beam splitter at an angle of incidence of ~40 deg . The device is made from a multilayer (SiO(2) /Si(3)N(4)) surface-relief zeroth-order one-dimensional grating with a period of 0.3 mum . The device is designed for an operating wavelength of 632.8 nm. We designed the device by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis and fabricated it by direct-write electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching. Measurements confirmed the performance of the device as a wave plate and as a polarizing beam splitter.