Spectral anomalies of waveguide electromagnetic modes in layered structures

A theoretical study of electromagnetic guided eigenwaves in two-and three-layered plates with metallized surfaces is accomplished. The appropriate dispersion equations are explicitly analyzed using the discretization first introduced by Mindlin in the theory of Lamb acoustic waves. It is shown that the dispersion branches of independent eigenmode families cross each other in the nodes of a grid formed by two infinite series of bond lines. The latter represent the dispersion curves for homogeneous plates with permittivities ɛ₂ or ɛ₂ coinciding with those for the layers of the waveguide. It is proved that, beyond nodes of the grid, the dispersion curves do not intersect bond lines, which thus provides definite “corridors” for these curves. The dispersion lines have a wavy (“zigzag”) form in the grid zone and remain smooth beyond the grid. The crossing branches have coinciding cutoff frequencies. In dimensionless coordinates “slowness (S) vs. frequency (f),” the branches S _l (f) have two asymptotic levels: S = √ɛ₁ and S = √ɛ₂. At the lower level, the spectrum forms a steplike terracing pattern with a progressive closing to the asymptote of a succession of dispersion curves, which change each other at this level with further going up to the next asymptote. An extension to anisotropic waveguides with layers made of uniaxial crystals is considered. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Spin current in an electron waveguide tunnel-coupled to a topological insulator

We show that electron tunneling from edge states in a two-dimensional topological insulator into a parallel electron waveguide leads to the appearance of spin-polarized current in the waveguide. The spin polarization P can be very close to unity and the electron current passing through the tunnel contact splits in the waveguide into two branches flowing from the contact. The polarization essentially depends on the electron scattering by the contact and the electron-electron interaction in the one-dimensional edge states. The electron-electron interaction is treated within the Luttinger liquid model. The main effect of the interaction stems from the renormalization of the electron velocity, due to which the polarization increases with the interaction strength. Electron scattering by the contact leads to a decrease in P. A specific effect occurs when the bottom of the subbands in the waveguide crosses the Dirac point of the spectrum of edge states when changing the voltage or chemical potential. This leads to changing the direction of the spin current.     

Double-state controllable optical switching through three tunnel-coupled quantum dots inside waveguide coupled photonic crystal microcavity

We study optical transmission properties of a combined system which is composed of a photonic crystal (PC) microcavity with low quality factor Q, a triple quantum dot (QD) embedded in cavity and two parallel waveguides. We demonstrate that low coupling strength (i.e., the weak coupling regime) between a cavity and a dot, by means of electron tunnel-induced coupling, can lead to a type of double-state controllable optical switching under the experimentally available parameter conditions.     

Analysis of space harmonic selectivity of period-varying folded waveguide

A period-varying folded waveguide is formed by varying the period of a folded waveguide. It has the advantages of the space harmonic selectivity and the wide bandwidth. However, the regularities of the variety of these period-varying folded waveguides are unavailable from the published papers. In order to solve this problem, the principle of the space harmonic selectivity of a period-varying folded waveguide is analysed, and the conditions to select the space harmonic for this slow wave system are obtained. In addition, the space harmonic selectivities for a linear period-varying folded waveguide and a hyperbolic sine-varying period folded waveguide are also analysed as examples.     

Spectral selectivity of nickel and chromium rough surfaces

The reflectance of metal surfaces with sinusoidal roughness of different periods and depths has been investigated experimentally. The results show clearly that the surface structure can be used to modify the optical properties of metal surfaces at different wavelengths. With a proper choice of groove depth to period ratio, nickel or chromium coatings on gratings have low reflectance in the short wavelength region, but achieve high reflectance in the infrared region. A solar absorptance as high as 93% has been obtained from such a surface. The surfaces are thought to be representative for randomly rough surfaces provided proper correlation length and height variation are chosen. Further, as the absorber is made of a single metal surface, it could be highly temperature resistant.     

New waveguide modes in anisotropic structures

The existence of new hybrid waveguide modes of properly tailored integrated optical waveguides consisting of ultrathin films clad by positive birefringent media is pointed out.     

Spectral distribution of photon pairs in a chirped waveguide

The spectra of two photon generation in the process of spontaneous parametric down conversion are studied in a waveguide containing the nonlinear segments with the spatial chirp. Three photon parametric interaction is investigated for the waveguide containing only a spatial fundamental mode. The peculiarities of spectra broadening of photon pair in the chirped waveguide are studied.     

Multilayer gyrotropic waveguide structures with azimuthal magnetization

An algorithm to obtain the dispersion equation and to determine the field configuration in the case of an arbitrary number of layers is developed by the successive joining of tangential components of the eigenwave electromagnetic field of a regular waveguide with concentric azimuthally magnetized gyrotropic layers. The electrical and magnetic field components in each layer are represented in the form of a linear combination of four particular analytic solutions of the system of generalized wave equations. By using an electronic computer the phase and dissipation characteristics of circular and coaxial waveguides with azimuthally magnetized ferrite-dielectric layers are computed for variations in their material and geometric parameters.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 24–28, April, 1981.     

Sagnac effect in coupled-resonator slow-light waveguide structures

We study the effect of rotation on the propagation of electromagnetic waves in slow-light waveguide structures consisting of coupled microring resonators. We show that such configurations exhibit a new type of Sagnac effect which can be used for the realization of highly compact integrated rotation sensors and gyroscopes.     

Nonreciprocal coupling effects in gyrotropic waveguide structures

Nonreciprocal couplers in gyrotropic materials offer a new possibility for the realization of integrated optical isolators and circulators. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of such devices. We apply the finite-difference method and coupled mode as well as normal mode theory to neighbouring gyrotropic rib waveguides. Conclusions for the design of nonreciprocal devices are drawn.     

Variational analysis of the disc-loaded waveguide slow-wave structures

The variational method is applied to calculate the dispersion characteristics of disc-loaded waveguide slow-wave structures. The parameters describing the waveguide discontinuities in disc-loaded waveguide are calculated by the variational method. Then the dispersion characteristics of slow-wave structures are obtained using lossless microwave quadrupole theory. Good agreement was observed between results of the variational method and those of field matching method and high frequency structure simulator. In the case of broad band, results of the variational method are better than those of field matching method.     

Elementary excitations in tunnel-coupled electron bilayers

A new class of single-particle excitations in tunnel-coupled electron bilayers is investigated by inelastic light scattering. The dispersion law and the dependence of the energies of these excitations on the degree of unbalance between the layers have been measured. A new spectroscopic method is proposed for determining the degree of unbalance between bilayers.     

Microwave generator based on tunnel-coupled semiconductor-metamaterial structure

We propose a model of a tunable laser based on a tunnel-coupled waveguide semiconductormetamaterial structure. The waveguide semiconductor channel has a positive refractive index and a high Kerr nonlinearity coefficient. In the frequency range under investigation, the channel formed by the magnetoactive metamaterial is characterized by a negative refractive index. Computer simulation is used for investigating the peculiarities of generation of microwave radiation under pumping due to modulated instability in the semiconductor channel and a distributed feedback. The generation frequency is controlled using the dependence of the refractive index of the metamaterial on the external magnetic field.     

Spectral selectivity of holographic mirrors recorded in an attenuating medium

Numerical simulation of the optical properties of unslanted reflection holographic gratings (holographic mirrors) is made by the characteristic matrix method. The holograms are recorded in an attenuating medium but the reconstruction is that of pure phase structures in which the refractive index depends exponentially on the exposure. The dependence of the hologram spectral selectivity on medium absorption, amplitude ratio of the two interference waves and recording linearity is studied.     

Electromagnetic waves propagation in real multimode waveguide structures

A power flow equation describing the power flow of electromagnetic waves in a real multimode waveguide represented by a linear multichannel trasmission system exhibiting an attenuation, dispersion, and an interchannel interaction is solved in three iterative ways. In the case of constant attenuation and constant propagation velocities in all channels and for the convolution interchannel interaction, a closed analytical solution of the problem is presented. Interesting forms of the solution, transfer function, and impulse response of the system which enable us to separate and compare the attenuation, dispersion, and coupling effects independently of each other are derived. The transfer function, the impulse response, and excitation conditions for their measurements are further discussed. Relations which make it possible to compare different experimental data obtained under specific excitation conditions in various laboratories are determined. Finally, a linear system with memory in time is studied and it is shown that the real multimode waveguide as a linear multichannel transmission system can be considered as a general linear system with memory in space.     

Dual spectral filters with multi-layered grating waveguide structures

Promising configurations for dual spectral filters based upon grating-waveguide structures are presented. In these configurations, the parameters of the multimode waveguide and grating are carefully chosen to achieve dual resonances at two different pre-determined wavelengths. Specifically, the grating-waveguide structure resonates for each pre-selected wavelength with a different waveguide mode. Theoretical and experimental results reveal that the resonance wavelengths can be accurately selected and that the resonance spectral bandwidths can be less than 1 nm with high contrast ratios. Received: 14 December 2000 / Published online: 9 May 2001