High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A Fresnel rhomb is a prism-like device designed in 1817 by Augustin-Jean Fresnel for changing the polarization of light waves to be circularly polarized. Though the result is similar to that of using a wave plate, the rhomb does not depend on birefringent properties of the material. Hence, the same rhomb configuration can be used for many different wavelengths, limited only by the dispersive properties of the material. This property is due to the polarization dependent phase shift at the rhomb interface, while for wave plates the polarization dependent phase shift is due to the wave`s propagation through the material and is thus dependent on both the frequency and thickness of the plate.