Design and fabrication of a vanadium dioxide-based actively switchable wire grid polarizer for near-infrared applications

This study introduces an actively switchable wire grid polarizer exploiting the semiconductor-metal transition of vanadium dioxide. Operating at a near-infrared wavelength, the device features a SiO2 substrate with VO2 deposited by atomic layer deposition. We demonstrate the design using rigorous coupled wave analysis and show a viable fabrication route. Polarisation-resolved spectral transmission measurements show switching of the extinction ratio from 37.5 (on-state) to 1.6 (off-state). Despite observed deviations between measured and theoretical transmission values, the device shows potential in miniaturized imaging processes, polarization measurements, and ellipsometry.