Use the Circular Wave Retarder node to define a circular wave retarder on a boundary selection. Add this node from the Optical Devices submenu when ray intensity or power is solved for in the model. The Accumulator (Boundary) subnode is available from the context menu (right-click the parent node) or from the Physics toolbar, Attributes menu.

Enter a value for the Retardance δ (SI unit: rad).

By default the Sense of rotation depends on ray trajectory checkbox is not selected. This means a positive value of the retardance always corresponds to clockwise rotation of the polarization ellipse. Select the checkbox then a positive value of the retardance corresponds to clockwise rotation of the polarization ellipse only when the ray crosses the boundary in the direction indicated by the normal vector in the Graphics window.

The Reverse sense of rotation checkbox is available when the Sense of rotation depends on ray trajectory checkbox is selected. Click to select this checkbox to reverse the direction of the normal vector shown in the Graphics window.

This section is available if an Auxiliary Dependent Variable has been added to the model. The settings are the same as for the Wall feature.