Propagation of a focused light beam in a circuital system of tunnel-coupled waveguides

The propagation of a pencil beam in a circuital system of tunnel-coupled waveguides is considered. It is shown that the beam periodically focuses into a point when moving along the trajectory. A maximal number of waveguides supporting the propagation of the beam can be estimated in simple terms. The cross-sectional area of the waveguides can be subdivided into three zone with the beam pulsing only in the central one.     

Bragg diffraction of light in a restricted homogeneous system of tunnel-coupled waveguides

A system of tunnel-coupled rectilinear waveguides is studied. The dependence of the number of modes in this system on the number of waveguides N, the distance between the waveguides, and the number of modes in a separate waveguide is considered. It is shown that the modes of the m = N and N + 1 orders in such a system are Bragg modes; i.e., the angle between the direction of their propagation and the system axis is close to the Bragg angle. The effective refractive indices n ^* of these modes change stepwise. The step size Δn ^* is found to be dependent on the distance s between the waveguides and on the number of modes in a separate waveguide. A system of single-mode waveguides with the number of guided modes M = 34 < N = 50 is studied experimentally. It is shown that the Bragg modes of the system lie among the leakage modes of the system and have rather low losses. It is demonstrated that the localization of the Bragg modes among the leakage modes may be favorable for their selection upon light generation.     

Autocollimation reflection of light from the surface of corrugated waveguides with leaky modes

The diffraction of light by a corrugated surface of a layered structure is studied. It is shown that the excitation of waveguide modes in a layered structure substantially changes the diffraction efficiency of a corrugated structure. In the autocollimation regime, the diffraction efficiency of a grating with a moderate depth may reach 100%. An increased Q factor of leaky modes was found to be the condition of efficient interaction of light with a grating.     

Spectral selectivity of radiation-and tunnel-coupled waveguide structures

The spectral transmission profile of systems of radiation-and tunnel-coupled waveguides is studied. It is determined how a smooth variation of the thickness of the buffer layer in a structure consisting of a pair of tunnel-coupled waveguides with strongly varying parameters will affect the spectral properties of the system as a whole. A simple physical treatment of the operation of a number of integrated and fiber-optic devices is given, and the prospects for using the proposed structure of two tunnel-coupled waveguides to realize a microlaser with waveguide output is demonstrated. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 59–65 (February 1997)     

Surface electromagnetic waves at the interface between a homogeneous medium and a system of coupled waveguides

An analysis is made of the experimental investigations of the surface waves existing at the interface between a homogeneous medium and a periodically stratified medium that represents a bounded system of coupled waveguides. It is shown that, in all cases of the observation of surface waves, the bounded system of coupled waveguides has its own spectrum of guided modes and a spectrum of leaky modes that become surface waves of the system. It is also demonstrated that a biosensor can successfully operate when two surface waves serve as leaky modes of a Bragg waveguide in which the periodic system of waveguides is used as a distributed Bragg mirror of this waveguide. A structure supporting surface waves is designed on the basis of ten pairs of Nb₂O₅-SiO₂ layers and implemented experimentally. The surface waves are detected with a K8 glass prism according to the Kretschmann scheme.     

Multilayer resonances sharpened by grating waveguide resonance

A multilayer planar structure comprising a highly reflective multilayer dielectric mirror and a corrugated waveguide is proposed for use as a narrow passband optical filter. The proposed filter has a much narrower linewidth than a usual Fabry–Perot cavity with two multilayer dielectric mirrors. It is shown that the narrowing of the linewidth is due to the strong spectral dependence of the phase of the wave reflected from the waveguide grating mirror. The shape of the pass band can be made symmetrical by a proper choice of the grating groove profile.     

Autocollimation reflection of light from the surface of corrugated waveguides with leaky modes

The diffraction of light at the corrugated surface of a layer structure was studied. We show that the excitation of the waveguide modes in a layer structure causes a significant change in the diffraction efficiency of the corrugated structure. It is found that the diffraction efficiency of a grating in the autocollimation regime may be as much as 100% with reasonable depths of the grating. The efficiency of a waveguide-grating mirror in dye lasers is experimentally demonstrated.     

Combined Diffraction Grating in the Scheme of Grazing Incidence: Calculation and Parameter Optimization

The method of parameter optimization of combined structures, which consist of a dielectric grating and a metallic or multilayer dielectric mirror, was proposed. It is based on the use of the waveguide properties of the combined diffraction grating. Its main advantage lies in the possibility of determining the optimum parameters of the combined grating without solving the diffraction problem.     

Quasi-Resonant Enhancement of the Extinction Ratio in the Amorphous Silicon Nanowire Grid Polarizer

Spectral characteristics of thin-film nanowire grid polarizers based on amorphous silicon are numerically investigated. The extinction ratio, transmission coefficients, and reflection coefficients are calculated using the MC Grating code based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. It is found out that at particular structure parameters of the nanowire grid polarizer the extinction ratio increases to 10⁶ at the optical radiation wavelength of about 380 nm, which is characterized as a quasi-resonance effect. A dissipative-interference qualitative interpretation of this effect within the waveguide model is proposed. This interpretation is confirmed by the calculated field distribution patterns in the vicinity of the quasiresonance.     

A circular system of coupled waveguides and an optical analogue of bloch oscillations

The process of light propagation in a nonuniform system of tunnel-coupled waveguides is studied. The nonuniform system of waveguides is realized by making a circular system of waveguides on the inner wall of a supporting tube with the help of the SPCVD technology, which is designed for the synthesis of preforms of optical fibers. It is shown that the waveguide light beam propagates in such a system along a wavelike trajectory and partially radiates outwards at the crests of this trajectory. The oscillation period of the trajectory is measured, and it is shown that it is possible to input radiation into the waveguide mode by the process that is inverse to the process of light emission from the structure.