title: Beam splitter for a wide-angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer.
abstract: The design and construction of a hexagonal interferometer beam splitting prism is described in which the light falls onto the all-dielectric partially reflecting coating at an angle of 300 with respect to the normal. For a beam that undergoes one transmission and one reflection by the device, the average effective transmittance 1/2 (T(parallel)R(parallel) + T(perpendicular)R(perpendicular)) in the 0.55-0.75-microm spectral region is approximately 0.23. This quantity is not strongly dependent on the plane of polarization of the incident light, nor on small changes of the angle of incidence from the design angle of 30 degrees. Ways to improve further the performance of the beam splitter are indicated. Coating designs for other angles of incidence are also given.
authors.affiliation: National Research Council of Canada, Division of Physics, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OR6.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dobrowolski
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waldorf