large the fast axes 18 and 20 of respective positive 12 and negative 14 layers are aligned substantially perpendicular to one another such that the retardance at least partially cancels one another block 28 thereafter the thicknesses of the positive 12 and negative 14 layers may be adjusted to achieve a desired retardance of the wave plate 10 block 30 thus the thicknesses of the positive 12 and negative 14 layers may be chosen to affect the total retardance of the wave plate 10 the fast axes 18 and 20 of respective positive 12 and negative 14 layers are described as being substantially aligned parallel or perpendicular to one another such that it is understood that the fast axes are not required to perfectly align with one another as there may be slight imperfections human error or other factors that prohibit perfect alignment for instance the fast axes 18 and 20 may be positioned to substantially align with one another to at least result in the retardance of the layers adding together in addition although the fast axes 18 and 20 of the layers of uniaxial crystal 12 and 14 respectively are commonly aligned i e parallel in the illustrated embodiment of the present invention it is understood that there may be instances where the fast axes are substantially perpendicular while still employing layers of uniaxial crystal that are positive and negative for instance there could be a positive layer and a negative layer of uniaxial.