Uniaxial slab as a polarisation transformer

Polarisation properties of plane waves propagating through a uniaxially anisotropic slab are considered for application to a polarisation transformer. Reflections from the interfaces of the slab are calculated and conditions for reflectionless propagation are given. Optimising the change in polarisation of the transmitted field, the polarisation transformer which transforms linearly polarised plane wave to any elliptically polarised plane wave is achieved. This is possible by choosing the material parameters and the thickness of the slab properly. Finally, as an example, plane wave propagation through a matched sapphire slab is considered in detail.