Crystal quartz at 633 nm has and

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Optics & Photonics · Polarisation and anisotropic media · Polarisation and anisotropic media

What an Instrument Can See, Ch Anisotropic media: the dielectric tensor and the index ellipsoid

Problem

Crystal quartz at 633 nm has no=1.5427n_o = 1.5427 and ne=1.5518n_e = 1.5518. A half-wave plate is cut with the optic axis in the plane of its faces, so that light at normal incidence travels at 90∘90^\circ to the axis. ((a)) Find the thickness of a zero-order half-wave plate, whose retardance is exactly Γ=π\Gamma = \pi. ((b)) A plate thinner than about 1 mm is hard to polish and mount. Find the thinnest multi-order plate, of retardance Γ=π+2πm\Gamma = \pi + 2\pi m with mm a whole number, that is at least 1.00 mm thick, and give its order mm.

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