Optical beam-splitter Tower Optical

Beamsplitters are used to split or combine beams of light. Tower provides some standard beamsplitters, but most are custom made.

Plates are used for most laser applications as they exhibit low absorption. Cubes are a convenient, protected form for low power applications. The performance of the beamsplitters is a function of the beamsplitter coating.

Beamsplitter Cubes
These beamsplitters are based upon using two complementary prisms. The output beam, which is parallel to the input beam, is called the p-polarized beam, while the orthogonal output beam is defined as s-polarized.
Basic Specifications:
Material: BK7
Dimension Range: 3.2mm to 50.8mm
Surface quality: 60/40 scratch and dig
Principal transmittance: Tp > 95% and Ts < 1%
Principal reflectance: Rs > 99% and Rp < 5%
Wavelength range: 226nm to 2300nm

Beamsplitter Plates
Are primarily used to split or re-combine a beam of light, especially in high power lasers. When using beam splitter plates the two partial beams travel different optical paths. The optical paths depend on the incident angle and the thickness of the plates.
Basic Specifications:
Material: BK7
Diameter Range: 10mm to 50.8mm
Flatness: l /4 @ 632.8 nm per 25 mm
Surface quality: 60/40 scratch and dig
T/R: 50/50 ± 5%

More specifications...