title: Aerogel waveplates.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-8440, USA. bhup@phys.ufl.edu
authors: Pradeep
authors: P
authors: Bhupathi
authors: Jungseek
authors: J
authors: Hwang
authors: Rodica M
authors: RM
authors: Martin
authors: Jackson
authors: J
authors: Blankstein
authors: Lukas
authors: L
authors: Jaworski
authors: Norbert
authors: N
authors: Mulders
authors: David B
authors: DB
authors: Tanner
authors: Yoonseok
authors: Y
authors: Lee