Theory of Dielectric Optical Waveguides

This report gives the results of an investigation to analytically determine the effect of a plane dielectric interface upon the radiation loss of a curved channel dielectric waveguide embedded in a dense substrate and bent in a plane parallel to that of the material interface. The radiation loss from bent dielectric waveguides is of interest for a variety of potential applications in integrated optics. Knowledge of the factors influencing the radiation from bend dielectric waveguides will allow the design of integrated optical component characteristics which, in one application, may result in decreased radiation to conserve signal energy or which, in another application, may achieve enhanced radiation effects in order to optimize the coupling between various optical waveguides. An obvious example for which the conservation of signal energy is of prime concern is the dielectric fiber transmission line used in simple point-to-point data transfer applications. (Author).

Theory of Dialectric Optical Waveguides, Second Edition focuses on the practical usage of optical waveguides. This book explores the rapid growth of integrated optics, which is devoted to the development of microscopic optical circuits based on thin film technology. Organized into nine chapters, this edition starts with an overview of the properties of dielectric slab waveguides. This book then examines the theory of directional couplers with and without diffraction gratings. Other chapters describe the numerical methods for solving guided mode as well as wave propagation problems. This text discusses as well the beam propagation method and the popular effective refractive index method. The final chapter deals with the significance of nonlinear phenomena. This book is a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students of physics and electrical engineering. Practicing engineers and scientists in the fields of integrated optics, optical communications, and fiber sensors will find this book extremely useful.

The Essence of Dielectric Waveguides provides an overview of the fundamental behavior of guided waves, essential to finding and interpreting the results of electromagnetic waveguide problems. Clearly and concisely written as well as brilliantly organized, this volume includes a detailed description of the fundamentals of electromagnetics, as well as a new discussion on boundary conditions and attenuation. It also covers the propagation characteristics of guided waves along classical canonical dielectric structures – planar, circular cylindrical, rectangular and elliptical waveguides. What’s more, the authors have included extensive coverage of inhomogeneous structures and approximate methods, as well as several powerful numerical approaches specifically applicable to dielectric waveguides.

Our intent in producing this book was to provide a text that would be comprehensive enough for an introductory course in integrated optics, yet concise enough in its mathematical derivations to be easily readable by a practicing engineer who desires an overview of the field. The response to the first edition has indeed been gratifying; unusually strong demand has caused it to be sold out during the initial year of publication, thus providing us with an early opportunity to produce this updated and improved second edition. This development is fortunate, because integrated optics is a very rapidly progressing field, with significant new research being regularly reported. Hence, a new chapter (Chap. 17) has been added to review recent progress and to provide numerous additional references to the relevant technical literature. Also, thirty-five new problems for practice have been included to supplement those at the ends of chapters in the first edition. Chapters I through 16 are essentially unchanged, except for brief updating revisions and corrections of typographical errors. Because of the time limitations imposed by the need to provide an uninterrupted supply of this book to those using it as a course text, it has been possible to include new references and to briefly describe recent developments only in Chapter 17. However, we hope to provide details of this continuing progress in a future edition.