Broadband reflective polarizers based on form birefringence for ultra-thin liquid crystal displays

Broadband reflective polarizers for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are designed. The working principle is based on giant form birefringence generated by engineering the materials of the subwavelength gratings. The optical performances of the proposed polarizers are investigated by the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The proposed polarizers show an ultra-thin profile, high transmission, large extinction ratio and wide acceptable angle, all of which are highly desirable for high-efficiency ultra-thin LCDs. Finally, the fabrication tolerance of the proposed structure is discussed in detail.