Waveplates (retardation plates or phase shifters) are made from materials which exhibit birefringence. The velocities of the extraordinary and ordinary rays through the birefringent materials vary inversely with their refractive indices. The difference in velocities gives rise to a phase difference when the two beams recombine. In the case of an incident linearly polarized beam this is given by a=2 *d(ne-no)/ (a-phase difference; d-thickness of waveplate; ne,no-refractive indices of extraordinary and ordinary rays respectively; -wavelength). At any specific wavelength the phase difference is governed by the thickness of the retarder.

Waveplate		Illustration	Properties and Application
Low-order Waveplate			Its properties are much better than the multi-order waveplate because of its thinner thickness (less than 0.5mm). Better temperature (380C), wavelength (1.5nm) and incident angle (4.50) bandwidth and high damage threshold make it widely used in common application. Also, it is economical.
Zero-order waveplate	Cemented And Optically Contracted		It is constructed of two multi-order waveplates with their axis crossed. Thus, it performs as a zero-order waveplate because of the effect of two plates counteracting each other. It has wide temperature bandwidth and wavelength bandwidth properties. Because it is cemented, the damage threshold must be considered (about 10MW/cm2) when used.
	Air-spaced		Its performance is as good as cemented zero-order waveplate. Additionally, the air-spaced construction enables it is suitable for the high power laser application. The damage threshold is more than 500MW/cm2.
True Zero-order Waveplate	Cemented		The true zero-order waveplate means that the thickness of waveplate is very thin (less than 0.1mm) which make the true zero-order waveplate excellent in temperature, wavelength and incident angle (about 20º) bandwidth. Therefore, it is excellent choice for the highly accurate application. It is cemented with a block of glass which is limited to low and medium power application.
	Single Plate		In order to enable the waveplate suitible for high damage threshold (more than 1GW/cm2) application: JYS provides a single plate of true zero-order waveplate *The thickness of this waveplate means handling can be difficult, we can provide mounts upon request.
Go top Custom designed waveplate is available. Metal ring mount is available. AR coating is available.