Mica Circles and Lenses, Mica Slides, Natural MICA Blocks and Thins

These useful broadband wave plates are manufactured by cleaving crystalline sheet mica to quarter, half and full wave plates getting the precise first order retardation at 550mm wavelength. These are useful throughout the visible spectrum from 400 to 700nm. The single Mica Disk is sandwiched between optical glass disks for protection on both sides and is oriented so that the optical axes are orthogonal. These broadband mica wave plates are produced in many diameter sizes of varied thickness. Mica has birefringent properties, which means that it can split and divide unpolarized incident light into two orthogonal linearly polarized beams at different velocities, one transmitting straight through, the second precisely separated by 90o. Beamsplitting polarizers are used after the generation of the laser and different degrees of retardation are produced by mica wave plates.