Optical  System  Simulation  Software

This example shows the effect of a birefringent crystal slab on an obliquely incident laser beam. Upon entering the crystal, the elliptically polarized beam breaks up into ordinary and extraordinary beams, both of which are linearly polarized. DIFFRACT allows you to monitor the intensity, phase, and polarization state of the beams as they emerge from the slab and continue to propagate in free space.

(top) Elliptically polarized beam of light entering a birefringent crystal slab, and (bottom) emergent intensity distribution at the rear facet of the crystal.

Using the Multilayer option in DIFFRACT, you can create an optical stack consisting of an arbitrary number of metallic, dielectric, birefringent, and optically active layers. You can then propagate the beam through or reflect it off the front facet of the stack. Here is a partial list of what the Multilayer option enables you to do.

• Observe the complex patterns of intensity, phase, and polarization created by multiple reflections from the various interfaces.

• Simulate the actions of uniaxial and biaxial crystals on laser beams.

• Investigate the magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects in magnetic thin films and multilayers.

• Study the reflection and transmission of coherent beams of light through Fabry-Perot resonators.

• Investigate the effects of focusing through birefringent substrates.

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