Fabrication technique for wire grid polarizer

A method of manufacturing a polarization-absorbing wire grid polarizer comprising a plurality of elongated wires, the method comprising:

• providing an optically transparent substrate, the optically transparent substrate having a top major surface;
• depositing a layer of reflective metal to cover the top major surface of the optically transparent substrate;
• depositing a layer of dielectric buffer material to cover the deposited layer of reflective metal;
• patterning and etching the combination of the deposited layer of dielectric buffer material and the layer of reflective material to create a plurality of wire stubs for the plurality of elongated wires;
• creating a metal-coated surface on each wire stub of the plurality of wire stubs by coating, at a first glancing angle of no greater than 10°, a top portion of each wire grid stub of the plurality of wire grid stubs with a polarization-absorbing metal material;
• and
• forming a dielectric cladding as a top layer of each elongated wire of the plurality of elongated wires by coating, at a second glancing angle of no greater than 10°, the metal-coated surface on each wire stub with a dielectric material.