{"id":169,"count":4,"description":"A retarder (or waveplate) is an optical device that resolves a light wave into two orthogonal linear polarisation components and produces a phase shift between them. The resulting light wave is generally of a different polarisation form. Ideally, retarders do not polarise, nor do they induce an intensity change in the light beam, they simply change its polarisation form.\r\n\r\nFor a complete overview of retarder (waveplate) principles, the different retarder types, materials used and how to practically use them in your experiments\/products, please see our blog\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\/blogs\/polarisation-and-phase-manipulation-with-retarders-or-waveplates\/\">Polarisation and Phase Manipulation with Retarders (or waveplates)<\/a>\r\n\r\nRetarders can be multiple-order (having several waves of retardance), compound zero-order, or true zero-order. True zero order retarders are often preferred for the most demanding applications requiring retardance stability with wavelength, temperature and angle of incidence. A true zero-order retarder is thin and must have a low birefringence to be manufactured easily.","link":"https:\/\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\/?product_cat=waveplates-and-retarders","name":"Waveplates and Retarders","slug":"waveplates-and-retarders","taxonomy":"product_cat","parent":167,"meta":[],"menu_order":0,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.6 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Waveplates and Retarders - Meadowlark Optics - OptoSigma - Laser 2000<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Off-the-shelf or custom retardance, wavelength, materials (polymer, quartz, sapphire, magnesium fluoride and liquid crystal) and sizes up to 150 mm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Waveplates and Retarders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Off-the-shelf or custom retardance, wavelength, materials (polymer, quartz, sapphire, magnesium fluoride and liquid crystal) and sizes up to 150 mm.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\/product-category\/light-delivery-and-control\/polarisation-phase-control\/polarisation-components\/waveplates-and-retarders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Laser 2000\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"CollectionPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/product-category\\\/light-delivery-and-control\\\/polarisation-phase-control\\\/polarisation-components\\\/waveplates-and-retarders\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/product-category\\\/light-delivery-and-control\\\/polarisation-phase-control\\\/polarisation-components\\\/waveplates-and-retarders\\\/\",\"name\":\"Waveplates and Retarders - Meadowlark Optics - OptoSigma - Laser 2000\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"description\":\"Off-the-shelf or custom retardance, wavelength, materials (polymer, quartz, sapphire, magnesium fluoride and liquid crystal) and sizes up to 150 mm.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/product-category\\\/light-delivery-and-control\\\/polarisation-phase-control\\\/polarisation-components\\\/waveplates-and-retarders\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/product-category\\\/light-delivery-and-control\\\/polarisation-phase-control\\\/polarisation-components\\\/waveplates-and-retarders\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stagingphotonics.laser2000.co.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Light Delivery &amp; 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