Fabrication of a mid-IR wire-grid polarizer by direct imprinting on chalcogenide glass.

A mid-IR wire-grid polarizer with a 500 nm pitch was fabricated on a low toxic chalcogenide glass (Sb-Ge-Sn-S system) by the thermal imprinting of periodic grating followed by the thermal evaporation of Al metal. After imprinting, deposition of Al on the grating at an oblique angle produced a wire-grid polarizer. The fabricated polarizer showed polarization with TM transmittance greater than 60% at 5-9 μm wavelengths and an extinction ratio greater than 20 dB at 3.5-11 μm wavelengths. This polarizer with a high extinction ratio can be fabricated more simply and less expensively than conventional IR polarizers.