Optical properties of the dual circularly polarized lights reflected from ITO films under electric and thermal fields

Abstract

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used in optoelectronic devices due to its excellent optical and electrical properties. The real-time characterization of the ITO surface under electric and thermal fields plays an important role in determining its performance. The Goos–Hänchen (GH) and Imbert–Fedorov (IF) shifts and polarization properties of the dual circularly polarized lights reflected from ITO films can be used to describe its features. The dual circularly polarized lights, right circularly polarized (RCP, S3≈+1) and left circularly polarized (LCP, S3≈−1) lights, are obtained by rotating the linear polarizer and quarter-wave plate. The polarization properties and the lateral shifts of the RCP and LCP lights were studied by a polarimeter and a slim beam profiler. The results show that the polarization properties of the dual circularly polarized lights are mainly affected by temperature. The degree of the polarization properties of the RCP and LCP lights changed from 97.85% to 97.40%, and from 98.40 % to 83.50%, respectively. The reflectivity of the RCP and LCP lights changed from 42.19% to 40.37%, and from 43.80% to 0.80%, respectively. The GH and IF shifts of the RCP light are 156.50 µm and186.00 µm, respectively. The GH and IF shifts of the LCP light are 233.00 µm and 257.00 µm, respectively. The ITO film has more effect on the LCP light than that of the RCP light due to its strong ITO film (400) plane.