Senior Design Project – University of Central Florida
The Fast polarization switch is a mechanical system that employs a birefringent optical crystal that will alter the path length of the light by rotating the crystal. When the axis of rotation is aligned with the fast axis of the crystal and is off axis by 45˚ in reference to the incoming light’s polarization. We can achieve orthogonal polarization states with small degrees of variance in the total path length. The project’s sponsor, ASML, is looking to use this system to assist in semi-conductor metrology. ASML will use this project to explore the viability of a mechanical system designed to achieve orthogonal states with a Polarization Extinction Ratio of 1000:1 with a switch time of at most 5 ms and it needs to work utilizing visible light frequencies.
This project is sponsored by ASML . We sincerely thank our sponsor for their support and guidance throughout this project.