Our Glan-Laser polarizers are fabricated using two matching select-grade calcite prisms with their hypotenuses placed back to back, air-spaced, to form a rectangular optic. The assembled prism pair is mounted in a black anodized aluminum housing marked to indicate the polarization axis of the transmitted beam. Glan-Laser polarizers are designed to be used with well collimated beams. In order to avoid multiple reflections that may occur in Glan-Thompson prisms, the hypotenuse must be less angled relative to the incident beam, which greatly reduces the usable acceptance angle.

Glan-Laser Polarizers are fabricated using two calcite prisms made of high-grade, birefringent calcite crystals. The prisms have the same optic axis orientation as one another, which is parallel to the plane of reflection and perpendicular to the propagating beam. With calcite’s birefringent nature, waves polarized in the direction of the optical axis propagate with a different index of refraction than waves polarized orthogonally to the optical axis. Birefringence in Glan-Laser polarizers causes the ordinary polarization component of an incident beam to undergo total internal reflection (TIR) at an internal glass-to-air interface. The transmitted light through the polarizer is made up of only the leftover extraordinary polarization component. These transmitted extraordinary rays are highly polarized, but the reflected ordinary rays are only partially polarized.

Our Glan-Laser Calcite Polarizers are designed for the most demanding applications, which require extreme polarization purity and optimum resistance to laser damage. They use optical grade calcite, which features excellent optical properties, including an extinction ratio (T_p/T_s) of greater than 100,000:1. The polarizers are available uncoated, as well as with antireflection coatings over a wide variety of wavelength ranges, which provide high transmission and high transmitted beam quality with low wavefront distortion of ≤ λ/4 at 632.8 nm over the full aperture.

Unlike traditional Glan-Thompson calcite polarizers, the prisms in our Glan-Laser polarizers are air spaced rather than cemented together. As a result, they can be used in high power applications because optical cement would be susceptible to damage when exposed to high intensity laser beams. Our broadband-coated Glan-Laser polarizers can sustain a damage threshold of 7.5 J/cm², at 10 ns, 20 Hz pulses.

Because these prisms are designed to handle highly intense beams, two escape ports provide an exit for the rejected polarization component (reflected at 67°), avoiding dangerous absorption of laser power by the polarizer housing. This enables the user to employ high power beam dumps, or even use the rejected polarization for in some other capacity. The high power acceptance of the Glan Laser Calcite polarizers allows them to be used in Q-switched laser cavities and other multiple pass applications.

The Glan-Laser Calcite polarizer has a black anodized aluminum housing. The knurled ring at the end of the housing will unscrew to yield a 1.063-20 thread. This thread conveniently screws into Newport's popular rotation mounts and stages such as , , and to mention a few.