High Contrast Inverse Polarizer

An embedded, inverse wire-grid polarizer (WGP) comprising ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, gaps between the ribs, and a fill-layer substantially filling the gaps, wherein:

• a) the ribs are elongated and formed into an array;
• b) at a wavelength of light incident upon the WGP in a range of 175-400 nm, E∥ transmission>E⊥ transmission, where:
• i) E∥ is a polarization of the light with an electric field oscillation parallel to a length of the ribs;
• and
• ii) E⊥ is a polarization of the light with an electric field oscillation perpendicular to a length of the ribs;
• and
• c) the fill-layer has an index of refraction greater than 1.7 at the wavelength of the light.

An embedded, inverse wire-grid polarizer (WGP) comprising ribs located over a surface of a transparent substrate, gaps between the ribs, and a fill-layer substantially filling the gaps, wherein:

• a) the ribs are elongated and formed into an array;
• b) at a wavelength of light incident upon the WGP, E∥ transmission >transmission, where:
• i) E∥ is a polarization of the light with an electric field oscillation parallel to a length of the ribs;
• and
• ii) E⊥ is a polarization of the light with an electric field oscillation perpendicular to a length of the ribs;
• and
• c) the fill-layer comprising aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, hafnium oxide, silicon nitride, tantalum oxide, tellurium oxide, germanium oxide, a transition metal oxides, a rare earth oxide, or combinations thereof.