Glan Laser prism polarizer is made of two same birefringent material prisms that are assembled with an air space. The polarizer is a modification of the Glan Taylor type and is designed to have less reflection loss at the prism junction. The polarizer with two escape windows allows the rejected beam to escape out of the polarizer, which makes it more desirable for high energy lasers. The surface quality of these faces is relatively poor compare to that of entrance and exit faces. No scratch and dig surface quality specifications are assigned to these faces.

Glan Taylor prism polarizer is made of two same birefringent material prisms that are assembled with an air space. Its length to aperture ratio which is less than 1.0 makes it a relatively thin polarizer. The polarizer with no side escape windows is suitable for low to medium power application where the side rejected beams are not required. The angular field of different materials of polarizers is listed below for comparison.

Glan-Thompson Polarizer Beamsplitter Cube (PBC)is made of two calcite prisms cemented together. As shown in the figure 1, the two output lights separate at 45 degree angle. It is suitable for is suitable for low to medium power application. Calcite polarizers can be used from 350 to 2300 nm.

Glan Thompson polarizer is made of two calcite prisms or a -BBO prisms cemented together. Two types of Glan Thompsons are available. One is the standard form and the other is the long form. Their length to aperture ratios are 2.5 : 1 and 3.0 : 1 respectively. Glan Thompsons tend to have higher extinction ratio than air spaced polarizers. In the ultra violet spectrum, their transmission is limited by absorption in birefriengent materials as well as the cement layer. a -BBO polarizers and Calcite polarizers can be used from about 220 to 900nm and 350 to 2300 nm respectively.

High Transmission Glan Laser Polarizer (PGH) is a special type of Glan Laser Polarizers. The incidence angle of the PGH is Brewster angle cut which can great improve the transmission ray up to 98% in a wide range of wavelength without coating. The polarizer can be made from Calcite and YVO4 crystals. In order to get high transmission of wide range of wavelength, the polarizers are not recommended to use for large acceptance angle. Typically used is within +/-5.