Beam path through dichro

[carmangary]

Howdy again. Could anyone tell me what the expected beam through-path is through a 45 degree dichro? Does the beam go straight through or does it turn at an angle through the dichro? If at an angle, what is the angle? I would like to know this so I can get my laser beam to exit exactly through the center of the back surface of the dichro so that the beam that reflects also is aimed at the very center of the dichro. Thanks!

[The_Doctor]

If the surfaces are parallel to each other the beam will pass straight through, with a small axial offset. It defects at the first surface, then deflects back with the same angle on the way out through the second. The thinner the material, the smaller the offset. The offset doesn't matter anyway much, if at all. It's easy to compensate for by shifting something slightly on the baseplate. The dichro's angle is important though, you have to adjust that to steer the reflected beam onto the passed beam, same as if you're using a beamsplitter cube to combine polarised beams.

[carmangary]

Thanks... I'm kind of wishing I took some of those optics classes in college instead of Rocks for Jocks now.