Lossy multilayer channel optical waveguides analyzed by the transmission line matrix method

We demonstrate that the three-dimensional vectorial transmission line matrix (TLM) method is applicable to the analysis of lossy multilayer optical waveguiding structures. Any lossy multilayer waveguide geometry, including sharp discontinuities in the transverse plane, can be treated taking into account the coupling between all optical field components. The complex propagation constants (propagation constants and the attenuation coefficients) for the fundamental TE-like and TM-like modes can be determined. These parameters of the fundamental TM-like mode of a typical lossy multilayer rib dielectric waveguide are obtained as functions of free-space wavelength. Calculation of the electric-field pattern is also included. Numerical comparisons with the argument principle method (for the case of lossy multilayer slab waveguides) and the spectral-index technique (for the case of lossy multilayer rib waveguides) are also included, and it is shown that the application of the TLM method to lossy multilayer optical waveguides is accurate.     

A procedure to obtain the complete electromagnetic scattering properties at discontinuities between integrated optical waveguides

Abstract

A method to obtain the complete electromagnetic scattering properties of discontinuities between arbitrary integrated optical waveguides is presented. The method involves a new generalized scattering matrix concept, together with the generalized telegraphist equations formulism and the modal matching technique. Radiation losses, as well as reflection and transmission coefficients between proper modes, can be obtained. Single and multiple discontinuities in planar and channel optical waveguides have been analysed. Numerical results of complex scattering coefficients are given. The possibilities of the method for analysing waveguide photonic crystals, as well as optical devices in waveguide periodic waveguide structures, are demonstrated.     

掺Er3+:Al2O3平面光波导的溶胶-凝胶制备

掺铒光波导主要用来制作光波导放大器。采用溶胶-凝胶法制备了透明、稳定的掺铒的铝硅酸盐玻璃溶胶;使用浸渍提拉法或旋转涂敷法,并通过放在乙醇蒸汽中干燥,可在玻璃表面得到均匀的凝胶膜;最后样品在一定温度下烧结;通过多次重复涂敷-烧结这一工艺流程可以形成厚的硅酸盐玻璃膜层并得到波导结构。使用显微镜研究了凝胶膜表面性质,通过棱镜耦合法测量了波导的有效折射率Nm,也测定了所制备波导的吸收光谱。溶胶-凝胶法在制作均匀性好、高掺铒浓度的铝硅酸盐玻璃光波导上具有优势。     

Analysis of optical waveguide structures by use of a combined finite-difference/finite-difference time-domain method

We present a method for full-wave characterization of optical waveguide structures. The method computes mode-propagation constants and cross-sectional field profiles from a straight forward discretization of Maxwell's equations. These modes are directly excited in a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulation to obtain optical field transmission and reflection coefficients for arbitrary waveguide discontinuities. The implementation uses the perfectly-matched-layer technique to absorb both guided modes and radiated fields. A scattered-field formulation is also utilized to allow accurate determination of weak scattered-field strengths. Individual three-dimensional waveguide sections are cascaded by S-parameter analysis. A complete 10(4)-section Bragg resonator is successfully simulated with the method.     

非接触搭接结构电磁屏蔽特性的数值分析

非接触搭接是电子设备箱体常见的连接形式,搭接处会不可避免地存在缝隙,而缝隙是电磁泄漏的主要途径,将致使箱体屏蔽效能降低,故有必要探索增强腔体屏蔽效能的方法．以几种典型非接触搭接金属箱体为研究对象,在平面波激励下,利用传输线矩阵法（TLM）和波导理论,对搭接长度、缝隙宽度、缝隙长度等参数对箱体屏效的影响进行了定量的数值计算和定性的理论分析,结论表明通过减小缝隙宽度、增加搭接长度和螺钉分段均可提高箱体屏效．同时计算分析了不同搭接形式对箱体屏效的影响,提出了能够实现高屏效的搭接结构途径,并结合矩形波导理论得到采用弯折搭接结构也能够显著提高箱体屏效的结论．研究结果可为电子设备的电磁屏蔽设计提供依据．     

Reconstruction of optical characteristics of waveguide lenses by the use of ray tracing

A method that uses the data of ray tracing for optical waveguide lens diagnostics is described. This method permits a direct reconstruction of the optical characteristics of a waveguide without the optical or the physical thickness being measured. Conditions are determined for the mathematical problem of diagnostics by ray tracing to have a unique solution, and a technique to obtain a numerical solution from noisy experimental data is described.     

Refracted Near-Field Measurements of Refractive Index and Geometry of Silica-on-Silicon Integrated Optical Waveguides

The standard refracted near-field technique for measuring the refractive-index profile of optical fibers cannot be directly used for silica-on-silicon integrated optical waveguides because of the opacity of silicon. A modified method is thus presented to characterize this kind of waveguide. The resolution it gives, both spatially and in the refracted index, is practically as good as that obtained with the standard technique for measuring optical fibers.     

Equivalent-optical-waveguide model for the analysis of optical waveguides by means of an asymptotic effective-index method

We present a theoretical method that makes it possible to analyze three-dimensional (3-D) integrated optical waveguides with arbitrary refractive-index profiles. With this method it is easy to obtain effective indexes, propagation constants, and coupling-switching properties of planar and channel optical waveguides. This theoretical approach involves one's modeling the original optical waveguide by means of an equivalent optical waveguide whose effective index is evaluated by the application of a technique that we call the asymptotic effective-index method. The numerical values show good convergence and accuracy for effective indexes, propagation constants, and coupling-switching characteristics. Theoretical and experimental results are given.     

Whispering gallery modes of a curved antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide

The whispering gallery modes of a curved antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide are described and analyzed. We present a ray analysis method that can be used to derive an eigenmode equation and to analyze the loss characteristics of a waveguide in rectangular coordinates by using conformal transformation. With an optimized design of an antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide structure, the propagation loss of such a waveguide can be significantly reduced.     

A simple explicit and unconditionally stable numerical routine for the solution of the diffusion equation

This paper describes a simple explicit and unconditionally stable numerical routine for the solution of the diffusion equation using a transmission-line modelling (TLM) method. The paper also shows that the explicit finite difference routine and the implicit Crank–Nicolson routine may be expressed as the exact solution of certain transmission-line models. Using these models a technique for comparing the accuracy and stability of numerical routines is developed and a detailed comparison of the new TLM methods and the well established methods is made.     

离子交换波导折射率分布峰值的移动

本文提出利用表面等离子波共振(SPR)技术测量离子交换波导的表面折射率的方法.这种方法基于分析转移矩阵方法和表面等离子波技术,避免了传统方法中确定表面折射率的自由度问题,所以得到的波导表面折射率要比逆WKB法更为精确.用此方法研究了不同交换时间的样品,我们发现当交换达到一定的时间后,表面折射率会随交换时间的增长而下降,折射率分布峰值移向波导内部,说明这时存在一个银离子反扩散的过程,这与理论分析结论相吻合.     

Technique for determining the angular orientation of molecules bound to the surface of an arbitrary planar optical waveguide

A technique to determine the angular orientation of a molecular assembly bound to the surface of a planar optical waveguide of arbitrary structure is described. The approach is based on measuring the absorption dichroic ratio by using the waveguide evanescent fields with orthogonal polarizations (TE, TM) and the same mode order to probe two molecular assemblies, (i) a reference sample composed of an isotropic orientation distribution of dipoles and (ii) a sample of interest. The isotropic sample is used to characterize the waveguide structure, which then allows the orientation parameters of a molecular assembly under investigation to be determined from a measured dichroic ratio. The method developed here is particularly important for applications in gradient-index and multilayer planar waveguide platforms because in those cases the extension of previously reported approaches would require a full experimental characterization of the guiding structure, which would be problematic and may yield inaccurate results.     

Large-core single-mode rib SU8 waveguide using solvent-assisted microcontact molding

This paper describes a novel fabrication technique for constructing a polymer-based large-core single-mode rib waveguide. A negative tone SU8 photoresist with a high optical transmission over a large wavelength range and stable mechanical properties was used as a waveguide material. A waveguide was constructed by using a polydimethylsiloxane stamp combined with a solvent-assisted microcontact molding technique. The effects on the final pattern's geometry of four different process conditions were investigated. Optical simulations were performed using beam propagation method software. Single-mode beam propagation was observed at the output of the simulated waveguide as well as the actual waveguide through the microscope image.     

Fabrication of channel waveguides from sol-gel-processed polyvinylpyrrolidone/ SiO(2) composite materials

Sol-gel-processed composite materials of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and SiO(2) were studied for optical waveguide applications. PVP is a polymer that can be crosslinked, so it is expected to have high thermal stability after crosslinking. However, thermal crosslinking and thermal decomposition of pure PVP take place around the same temperature, 200 °C, therefore pure PVP had a high optical propagation loss as a result of the absorption of the decomposed molecules after crosslinking. The incorporation of sol-gel-processed SiO(2) prevented the thermal decomposition of PVP and provided remarkably low optical propagation losses. The PVP/SiO(2)composite material also produced thick (>2-μm) crack-free films when the PVP concentration was 50% or higher. An optical propagation loss of 0.2 dB/cm was achieved at 633 nm in the 50% PVP/SiO(2) composite planar waveguide. Several aspects of the thermal stability of the waveguides were evaluated. The slab waveguide was then used for fabrication of channel waveguides with a selective laser-densification technique. This technique used metal lines fabricated with photolithography on the slab waveguide as a light absorbent, and these metal lines were heated by an Ar laser. The resultant channel waveguide had an optical propagation loss of 0.9 dB/ cm at 633 nm. This technique provides lower absorption loss and scattering loss compared with the direct laser-densification technique, which uses UV lasers, and produces narrow waveguides that are difficult to fabricate with a CO(2) laser.     

Ferroelectric liquid-crystal waveguide modulation based on a switchable uniaxial-uniaxial interface

Liquid crystals have effective electro-optic coefficients that are orders of magnitude larger than other integrated optical materials such as lithium niobate. However, previous studies of liquid-crystal waveguides have mainly focused on nematic liquid crystals, which exhibit impractically large scattering losses as waveguides. Studies of smectic liquid crystals and liquid crystals under strong confinement suggest the losses in these materials may be more manageable. In this study, the possibility of using ferroelectric liquid crystals in active waveguide modulators is explored through the analysis of several modulator configurations: a cutoff modulator, a deflection modulator, and an input coupler. As a way to study these structures, a mode-matching technique was developed to analyze the effects of a discontinuity in a uniaxial slab waveguide whose optic axis is in the plane of the waveguide. The results from the mode-matching technique were compared with those from simple bulk models. The analysis shows that ferroelectric liquid-crystal modulators have many desirable performance characteristics and could form the basis for practical waveguide modulators.     

Single-pulse ultraviolet laser recording of periodically poled structures in polymer thin films

A simple fabrication technique for nonlinear polymeric optical waveguide patterns is introduced based on the two-beam interference method. We determined that the second-order nonlinearity of poled polymer films is erased by single-pulse ultraviolet (UV) laser irradiation. The erasure mechanism for second-order nonlinearity is discussed. To form a periodic structure in an optical polymer waveguide, two types of optical configuration of two-beam interference were arranged, and a single-pulse UV laser was exposed directly onto poled films. We prove that this method provides a simple way to fabricate volume-type and ridge-type periodically poled structures, i.e., chi((2)) gratings, from the submicrometer to the millimeter range.     

级联型波导中古斯-汉欣位移的增强

前期的工作已经证明,由于共振效应和渗透深度的增加,利用毫米尺度对称金属包覆波导和自由空间耦合技术,可获得毫米量级的古斯 -汉欣(Goos-H.nchen)位移。本文在此基础上,利用一对对称金属包覆波导组成级联型结构,研究了这种结构中古斯 -汉欣位移的增强效应。实验结果表明：当激光波长变化 43 pm时,由 CCD探测器测量得到的古斯 -汉欣位移达到了 2 215 μm,约为单级波导古斯 -汉欣位移的 2倍,实验结果与理论推导完全一致。     

Photodetector performance enhancement using an electron accelerator controlled by light

A new method of photodetector performance enhancement using an embedded optical accelerator circuit within the photodetector is proposed. The principle of optical tweezer generation using a light pulse within a PANDA ring is also reviewed. By using a modified add-drop optical filter known as a PANDA microring resonator, which is embedded within the photodetector circuit, the device performance can be improved by using an electron injection technique, in which electrons can be trapped by optical tweezers generated by a PANDA ring resonator. Finally, electrons can move faster within the device via the optical waveguide without trapping center in the silicon bulk to the contact, in which the increase in photodetector current is seen. Simulation results obtained have shown that the device's light currents are increased by the order of four, and the switching time is increased by the order of five. This technique can be used for better photodetector performance and other semiconductor applications in the future.     

Optical masks prepared by using a liquid-crystal light valve for light-induced photorefractive waveguides

The optical mask prepared by using a LCLV (liquid-crystal light valve) are first proposed for light-induced photoreactive waveguides in photorefractive materials. Employing this technique, various waveguide structures can be fabricated, e.g., Y- or multiple-branches waveguides, fiber-like waveguides, and Mach-Zehnder-like switches, and even whole optical circuits may be formed. A Y-branches waveguide and a fiber-like waveguide were demonstrated in a LiNbO3:Fe crystal. Several technical problems, such as intensities, resolutions, writing speed, and so on, were also discussed in detail. Using a LCLV with a fast response and a writing beam with a high intensity, the waveguide structures may be changed in real time.