Chalcogenide glass photonic crystals

All-optical switching devices are based on a material possessing a nonlinear optical response, enabling light to control light, and are enjoying renewed interest. Photonic crystals are a promising platform for realizing compact all-optical switches operating at very low power and integrated on an optical integrated circuit. In this review, we show that by making photonic crystals from a highly nonlinear chalcogenide glass, we have the potential to integrate a variety of active devices into a photonic chip. We describe the fabrication and testing of two-dimensional Ge₃₃As₁₂ Se₅₅ chalcogenide glass photonic crystal membrane devices (waveguides and microcavities). We then demonstrate the ability to post-tune the devices using the material photosensitivity. In one proposal we hope to introduce a double-heterostructure microcavity using the photosensitivity alone.     

Locking in photosensitivity within optical fiber and planar waveguides by ultraviolet preexposure

Strong photosensitivity is locked in permanently after hydrogen outdiffusion of hydrogen-loaded waveguides presensitized with UV light by either pulsed 193-nm or cw 244-nm laser output.     

Femtosecond laser direct writing of multiwavelength Bragg grating waveguides in glass

Novel Bragg grating waveguide structures have been fabricated in bulk borosilicate glass through a type II photosensitivity mechanism driven by single femtosecond laser pulses. Low-loss single-mode waveguides and narrow-linewidth Bragg gratings were generated simultaneously by forming an array of refractive index voxels in a single laser scan. Laser pulse duration is shown to significantly affect the grating strength and waveguide loss. Bragg wavelengths, defined by the periodicity of laser-modified volumes, were fully controlled by the sample scan speed to provide resonances anywhere in the 1200-1620 nm telecommunication bands. Four linear Bragg filters with distinct resonant wavelengths are presented that define the first demonstration of laser writing of multiple-wavelength and cascaded Bragg grating waveguides in a single process step.     

Complex photosensitivity observed in germanosilica planar waveguides

Photosensitive effects distinguished as type I and type IIA photosensitivity within optical fibers were observed in a much more pronounced form within germanosilica waveguides deposited by hollow-cathode plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition. With increasing exposure to 193-nm UV light, positive index changes greater than 2 x 10(-3) were observed, followed by negative index changes greater than -5 x 10(-3) . These behaviors are attributed to an increase in macroscopic polarizability and a reduction in material density, respectively. The negative index change is more temperature resistant and is fully annealed only at 900 degrees C, whereas the positive one is annealed at 500 degrees C.     

Direct femtosecond laser writing of waveguides in As2S3 thin films

Single-channel waveguides and Y couplers were fabricated in chalcogenide thin films by use of femtosecond laser pulses from a 25-MHz repetition rate Ti:sapphire laser. Refractive-index differentials (delta n > 10(-2)) were measured through interferometric microscopy and are higher than the typical values reported for oxide glasses. The dependence of the index differential on the peak intensity reveals the nonlinear nature of the photosensitivity in arsenic trisulfide below its bandgap energy, and the refractive-index change is correlated to the photoinduced structural changes inferred by Raman spectroscopy data. A free-electron model to predict the parametric dependence of delta n is proposed.     

Solid-state autocatalysis and oscillatory reactions in silicate glass systems

We report the first demonstration of autocatalysis and oscillatory behaviour in the solid-state where no decomposition process is involved. Our material system is solid-state silica glass impregnated with hydrogen. It is at the heart of photosensitivity in glass-based optical waveguides and devices, which have many applications including telecommunication devices, fibre lasers, and optical sensors. Consequently, the results reported here extend the engineering of chemical complexity to a previously uncharted area in materials science of particular relevance to photonic applications. Diagnosis is carried out optically, opening up a new approach to characterisation of such catalytic processes generally.     

Pedestal antiresonant reflecting waveguides for robust coupling to microsphere resonators and for microphotonic circuits

Strip-line pedestal antiresonant reflecting waveguides are high-confinement, silica integrated optical waveguides in which the optical modes are completely isolated from the substrate by thin high-index layers. These waveguides are particularly well suited for whispering-gallery mode excitation in high-Q microspheres. They can also be used in microphotonic circuits, such as for microring resonators. The theory and design of these structures are highlighted. Experiments that show high coupling efficiency to microspheres are also demonstrated.     

An Extension of the Effective Index Method to Analyze Leakage Losses in Rib Type Waveguides

An extension of the effective index method is proposed as a tool to investigate leakage losses in two-dimensional waveguides. The above method, referred to as the Extended Effective Index Method (EEIM), utilizes the Transfer Matrix Technique (TMT) for the calculation of the complex propagation constants. The results show that the EEIM can be applied to conventional rib leaky waveguides as well as to rib ARROW leaky waveguides. The results for rib ARROW waveguides show excellent agreement when compared to those obtained with Finite Element Method.     

Design of circular ARC finline tapers

The aim of this paper is the development of a technological simple procedure for the fabrication of tapers in finline technique with a high transmission and low reflection characteristics. This method employs tapers between rectangular waveguides and finline sections or between two electrically different waveguides in form of circular arcs which are matched to the required lapse of the slot width as a function of the characteristic impedance. The appicability of this method assumes that the transmission properties of the considered finline are known. Several examples show the feasibility of the method.     

梯形截面脊波导的特性分析

提出了用有效折射率法结合转移矩阵理论对梯形截面脊波导进行数值分析的新方法。对梯形截面脊波导中模式传播常数和模式间耦合系数的分析表明,梯形截面脊波导与稍宽的矩形截面脊波导行为相同。这一结论有利于简化梯形截面脊波导的设计,提高实际器件的精度。     

Nanofiltering via integrated liquid core waveguides

We demonstrate and describe how nanoporous liquid core waveguides can exclude scattering particles, making them an ideal integrated platform for analysis of turbid solutions. Milk with 0.5% fat showed an optical propagation loss of 0.05?dB/mm at 633?nm in nanoporous waveguides compared to the 10.6?dB/mm loss in standard cuvette measurements. To examine the nanofiltering effect, waveguides were infiltrated with solutions containing Rhodamine B molecules (1?nm) and 22?nm red fluorescing polystyrene beads. With fluorescence spectroscopy we show that 22?nm beads are excluded, while Rhodamine B molecules penetrate the waveguides. This is further confirmed by fluorescence microscopy, also revealing a homogenous distribution of Rhodamine in the waveguide volume.     

Waveguide cores containing silicon nanocrystals as active spectral filters for silicon-based photonics

Layers of densely packed luminescent Si nanocrystals embedded in fused silica act as wavelength-specific planar waveguides that filter the wide-band spontaneous emission. The waveguides’ light output consists of two spectrally narrow (∼10 nm), orthogonally polarized, and spatially directed bands. This effect is shown to result from leaky modes of the lossy waveguides. The results have general applicability to lossy, asymmetric waveguides and show the way to produce spectrally narrow emission without the use of optical cavities. PACS 78.67.Bf; 42.79.Gn; 81.07.Bc     

Geometry and transport in a model of two coupled quadratic nonlinear waveguides

This paper applies geometric methods developed to understand chaos and transport in Hamiltonian systems to the study of power distribution in nonlinear waveguide arrays. The specific case of two linearly coupled chi((2)) waveguides is modeled and analyzed in terms of transport and geometry in the phase space. This gives us a transport problem in the phase space resulting from the coupling of the two Hamiltonian systems for each waveguide. In particular, the effect of the presence of partial and complete barriers in the phase space on the transfer of intensity between the waveguides is studied, given a specific input and range of material properties. We show how these barriers break down as the coupling between the waveguides is increased and what the role of resonances in the phase space has in this. We also show how an increase in the coupling can lead to chaos and global transport and what effect this has on the intensity.     

Second-harmonic generation in waveguides induced by photorefractive spatial solitons

We demonstrate experimentally second-harmonic generation in waveguides induced by photorefractive solitons and show that the conversion efficiency is improved considerably. These induced waveguides are flexible and can be generated in any crystalline direction that allows soliton formation, and thus offer broad tunability (by rotation of the crystal), which cannot exist in fabricated waveguides.     

Scaling of optical forces in dielectric waveguides: rigorous connection between radiation pressure and dispersion

We show that eigenmodes of dielectric optical waveguides exert surface dilation forces on waveguide boundaries owing to radiation pressure, and we develop an exact scaling law relating modal dispersion of an arbitrary dielectric waveguide to the magnitude of optical forces generated by radiation pressure. This result points to highly dispersive waveguides as an optimal choice for the generation of large optical forces in nano-optomechanical systems. Exact agreement with ab initio calculations is demonstrated.     

Waveguide trapping of hollow glass spheres

Microparticles can be trapped and propelled by the evanescent field of optical waveguides. As the evanescent field only stretches 100-200?nm from the surface of the waveguide, only the lower caps of the microparticles interact directly with the field. This is taken advantage of by trapping hollow glass spheres on waveguides in the same way as solid glass spheres. For the chosen waveguide, numerical simulations show that hollow microspheres with a shell thickness above 60?nm can be stably trapped, while spheres with thinner shells are repelled. The average refractive index of the sphere-field intersection volume is used to explain the result in a qualitative way.     

Solgel grating waveguides for distributed Bragg reflector lasers

Solgel grating waveguides and their application to the fabrication of external-cavity distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers are demonstrated. A new composition of aluminosilicate material is developed for the fabrication of single-mode waveguides and Bragg reflectors. An average loss of <0.2 dB/cm is measured in the single-mode waveguides at 1550 nm. The reflectors show filtering greater than 97% near 1530 nm, with a bandwidth of ~0.6 nm . The Bragg reflectors are used as feedback resonators for DBR lasers. Single-mode lasing with a sidemode suppression of better than 25 dB is demonstrated.     

Investigation of a UV-laser generated planar polymeric waveguide directly and after five years of preparation using an interferometric method

Polymeric integrated-optical waveguides were prepared in a planar chip using UV-laser lithographic method. Five waveguide samples were irradiated by an excimer laser of wavelength 248 nm with different irradiation parameters (fluence and irradiation doses). Using Mach–Zehnder interferometer, the refractive index depth profiles of these samples are determined in two cases, directly and five years later of preparation. A crucial change of refractive indices profiles has been recorded after five years of preparation. In the first case we got double region waveguides fitted a Gaussian shape, while in the second one we observe a single region waveguide which has exponential shape. The photochemical reactions responsible for these changes in the two cases are demonstrated. This is quite important when such waveguides are used in the applications. Also it was interesting to investigate the aging impact on mode field distributions and the effective mode indices. The mode parameters are determined based on a theoretical model and the experimentally obtained data. The results show a notable change in the mode field distributions and the propagation coefficients as influence of aging.     

Principal modes in multimode waveguides

We generalize the concept of principal states of polarization and prove the existence of principal modes in multimode waveguides. Principal modes do not suffer from modal dispersion to first order of frequency variation and form orthogonal bases at both the input and the output ends of the waveguide. We show that principal modes are generally different from eigenmodes, even in uniform waveguides, unlike the special case of a single-mode fiber with uniform birefringence. The difference is most pronounced when different eigenmodes possess similar group velocities and when their field patterns vary as a function of frequency. This work may provide a new basis for analysis and control of dispersion in multimode fiber systems.     

Effect of distortion on optical-fiber waveguides

We analyze the modes and coupling efficiency of asymmetric optical-fiber waveguides. We treated the step index-asymmetric optical-fiber waveguide as a boundary-value problem and obtain the expressions for the modes under logical assumptions. Using these expressions, we describe the propagation constants, mode delay, and power distribution of two asymmetric optical-fiber waveguides under consideration. Based on the perturbation theory, we also present the coupling coefficients of these asymmetric optical-fiber waveguides. We show that the waveguide parameters are considerably changed in the presence of distortion, and one can tune these parameters at the desired level by choosing suitable distortions.