Direct design of a polarization interference filter by adaptive simulated annealing algorithm

Polarization interference filters (PIFs) could substitute for thin films in three-panel projection systems for color separation/combination. Conventional methods of designing PIFs use inverse propagation of optical networks making the design procedure very complicated. The design of PIFs requires the determination of the thickness and orientation of the bireffingent crystals. On the basis of analyzing several traditional algorithms, we advance a method of exploring all the possible thickness of the crystals, and the self-initiated weighted least squares (SWLS) method combined with adaptive simulated annealing (ASA) is proposed to find out the orientation of the crystal. This Chebyshev criterion based on optimal approximation method has not only fast speed but also high accuracy and good controllability. Finally, experimental results both for the spectral and angular properties are given thoroughly. The experimental and designed results are well matched. In particular, the good angular property of PIF is validated.