Abstract
Optical transmission measurements were made on 98% porosity silica aerogel samples under various degrees of uniaxial strain. Uniaxially compressed aerogels exhibit large birefringence, proportional to the amount of compression, up to the 15% strain studied. The birefringence is mostly reversible and reproducible through multiple compression-decompression cycles. Our study demonstrates that uniaxially strained high porosity aerogels can be used as tunable waveplates in a broad spectral range.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 10599-10605 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Optics Express |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 22 Jun 2009 |