Martínez Antón, Juan CarlosBernabeu Martínez, Eusebio2023-06-202023-06-202002-03-111. J. M. Bennett, Handbook of Optics, edited by M. Bass (McGraw–Hill, New York, 1995), Vol. II, Chap. 3. 2. J. A. Dobrowolski and A. Waldorf, Appl. Opt. 20, 111 (1981). 3. I. Hodgkinson and Qi Hong Wu, Appl. Phys. Lett. 74, 1794 (1999). 4. M. H. de Longchamp, Rev. Opt., Theor. Instrum. 26, 94 (1947). 5. T. Yamaguti, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 10, 219 (1955). 6. T. Yamaguti, I. Makino, S. Shinoda, and I. Kuroha, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 14, 199 (1959). 7. F. J. Dumont and R. N. Smartt, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59, 1541 (1970). 8. M. Cakmak, J. L. White, and J. E. Spruiell, Polym. Eng. Sci. 29, 1534 (1989). 9. Goodfellow Cambridge Limited, Ermine Business Park, Huntingdon, UK, PE29/PET film Ref. No. ES301191. 10. J. C. Martı́nez-Antón, Mater. Lett. (in press). 11. J. C. Martı́nez-Antón, J. Opt. Mater (in press). 12. Cargille Laboratories Inc., 55 Commerce Rd. Cedar Grove, NJ 07009. 13. Casix, Inc., P.O. Box 1103, Fuzhou, Fujian 350014, People’s Republic of China.0003-695110.1063/1.1457529https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/59216© American Institute of Physics. This work was financially support by the Universidad Complutense Madrid (PR48/01-9883) and by the Comunidad de Madrid (07N/0039/1998), Spain.Stretched poly(ethylene-terephthalate) films appear to be an interesting optical plastic for use in polarization control devices. By means of stretching ratios its birefringence, in practice, can be tailored from ∼0 to ∼0.17. It has a very wide transmission window (∼0.32–5.70 μm) and good thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties. We propose using it for polarizers based on the Feussner design. By implementing this configuration with a biaxially stretched film, we have obtained a polarizer with an achromatic extinction ratio better than 1 part in 50 000. This is comparable with conventional Glan–Thompson polarizers but with additional advantages. The principal refractive indices of the film (in the 0.43–5.7 μm range) and the operational range of the polarizer presented are also provided.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1457529http://scitation.aip.orgopen access535Applied PhysicsÓptica (Física)2209.19 Óptica Física