Optical polarizer using anisotropic metallic island films with a large aperture and a high extinction ratio

A new type of an optical polarizer consisting of anisotropic metallic island films is proposed, and its optical properties are investigated theoretically. It is shown that an extinction ratio of 63 dB and an insertion loss of 0.02 dB at a resonance wavelength, e.g., 0.64 microm, are expected for the polarizer when silver is used as the metal. A broadband polarizer is also designed by combining several kinds of anisotropic island film.