Pile-of-Plates Polarizer for the Vacuum Ultraviolet

A pile-of-plates polarizer and analyzer for the spectral region 2000 Å to 1200 Å have been constructed from cleaved LiF plates 13 mm in diameter and 0.3 to 0.8 mm thick. Both polarizer and analyzer consist of identical cylinders with 0.48-cm apertures and contain eight 1-mm slots cut at an angle of 30° to the axis of the cylinder. The slots are arranged in two opposing groups of four each, to give an on-axis emergent beam. Measurements with a six-plate polarizer gave polarizations of 82% and 65% at 1200 Å and 1600 Å, respectively. The effective transmission of the polarizer was 4.3% and 21.5% at these two wavelengths. Performance characteristics of the polarizer are presented and discussed.