Numerical analysis of a thin-film waveguide by mode-matching method

Abstract

A new numerical analysis is proposed to investigate accurately the propagation characteristics of a dielectric thin-film waveguide, and its algorithm is presented. In this method, the Rayleigh principle previously used in conventional mode-matching techniques is extended to the Fourier transform of the wave field in the boundary-value problem for an unbounded object. Successful numerical results for dispersion relations and field distributions in a rib waveguide are obtained in detail, accompanied by their error estimations. The propagation characteristics, including field distributions in an optical rib waveguide, are investigated precisely for several geometries, and it is confirmed that the modematching method is accurate and effective for numerical analysis, not only with bounded objects, but also with unbounded objects such as thin-film waveguides in integrated optics.