Brewster's angle

Materials science

Brewster

Metamaterial

Wavelength

Photonic crystal

Physical chemistry

Polarization (electrochemistry)

Linear polarization

Laser

Physics

Dielectric

Optics

Chemistry

Birefringence

Optoelectronics

Polarizer

Polarization rotator

Optics Letters

Conventional defect modes in all-dielectric 1D photonic crystals (PCs) are polarization-insensitive. This poses a great challenge in achieving high-performance polarization selectivity. In this Letter, we introduce a defect layer into a 1D PC containing hyperbolic metamaterials to achieve an anomalous defect mode with polarization-sensitive characteristics. As the incident angle increases, such a defect mode remains almost unshifted under transverse magnetic polarization, while strongly shifting toward shorter wavelengths under transverse electric polarization. The polarization-sensitive characteristics of the defect mode can be well explained by the Fabry-Perot resonance condition. Assisted by the polarization-sensitive defect mode, wide-angle polarization selectivity with an operating angle width up to 54.8° can be realized. Our work provides a route to designing wide-angle linear polarizers using simple 1D structures, which would be useful in liquid crystal display and Q-switched lasers.

Wide-angle polarization selectivity based on anomalous defect mode in photonic crystal containing hyperbolic metamaterials