Aerogel waveplates.
Optical transmission measurements were made on 98% porosity silica aerogel samples under various degrees of uniaxial strain. Uniaxially compressed aerogels exhibit large birefringence, proportional to the amount of compression, up to the 15% strain studied. The birefringence is mostly reversible and reproducible through multiple compression-decompression cycles. Our study demonstrates that uniaxially strained high porosity aerogels can be used as tunable waveplates in a broad spectral range.
Bhupathi
Pradeep
P
Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-8440, USA. bhup@phys.ufl.edu
Hwang
Jungseek
J
Martin
Rodica M
RM
Blankstein
Jackson
J
Jaworski
Lukas
L
Mulders
Norbert
N
Tanner
David B
DB
Lee
Yoonseok
Y