Passive rectification of the polarization of fluorescence light by photon recycling.

We demonstrate a method of passive polarization rectification for a fluorescence emission that is excited by a blue light emitting diode (LED). More than 77% of chaotically polarized fluorescence light is converted into a linear polarized state, compared to only 39% when using a commercial plastic polarizer. We think that the proposed approach will enable significant energy savings and additional functionalities in applications, such as projectors and displays.