An infrared achromatic quarter-wave plate designed based on simulated annealing algorithm

Quarter-wave plates are primarily used to change the polarization state of light. Their retardation usually varies depending on the wavelength of the incident light. In this paper, the design and characteristics of an achromatic quarter-wave plate, which is formed by a cascaded system of birefringent plates, are studied. For the analysis of the combination, we use Jones matrix method to derivate the general expressions of the equivalent retardation and the equivalent azimuth. The infrared achromatic quarter-wave plate is designed based on the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. The maximum retardation variation and the maximum azimuth variation of this achromatic waveplate are only about 1.8° and 0.5°, respectively, over the entire wavelength range of 1250-1650 nm. This waveplate can change the linear polarized light into circular polarized light with a less than 3.2% degree of linear polarization (DOLP) over that wide wavelength range.