Engineerable retardation dispersion of +C plates using form-birefringent ZnO nanostructures

Positive C-plate (+C-plate) retarders are polarization modulators of light that function at oblique angles of incidence. Despite their prevalence in display devices, existing C-plate retarders predominantly exhibit positive dispersion, where the absolute retardation decreases with increasing wavelength. In contrast, materials with negative dispersion offer the potential for achromatic compensation but have received little attention. In this work, the correlation between the structural parameters and retardation dispersion of form-birefringent media was investigated. The theoretical prediction was experimentally validated by growing vertical ZnO nanorods through programmed templates.