Light Guiding in Low Index Materials using High-Index-Contrast Waveguides

Abstract

We propose a novel high-index-contrast waveguide structure capable of light strong confinement and guiding in low-refractive-index materials. The principle of operation of this structure relies on the electric field (E-field) discontinuity at the interface between high-indexcontrast materials. We show that by using such a structure the E-field can be strongly confined in a 50-nm-wide low-index region with normalized average intensity of 20 µm -2 . This intensity is approximately 20 times higher than that can be achieved in SiO 2 with conventional rectangular or photonic crystal waveguides.

Efficient Lanczos–Fourier expansion-based transmission line formulation for full-wave modal analysis of optical waveguides

“…In this paper, optical waveguides that are fabricated of nonmagnetic, linear, isotropic, lossless dielectric materials are considered. Figure 1 illustrates the geometry of a siliconphotonics "strip-based slot waveguide," which has been proposed by Almeida et al [36]. It is generally composed of two cores with high refractive-index silicon (n H n Si ), a slot with low refractive-index material (n S ), a low refractive-index cladding (n C ), and a low refractive-index buried oxide substrate (n B n silica ).…”

“…It is generally composed of two cores with high refractive-index silicon (n H n Si ), a slot with low refractive-index material (n S ), a low refractive-index cladding (n C ), and a low refractive-index buried oxide substrate (n B n silica ). This waveguide has been analyzed in detail in [36][37][38].…”

Status and trends in modern micro- and nanotechnology

“…Significant milestones on the field of active components are Intel's optically pumped continuous-wave Raman silicon laser (Rong et aL, 2005) and its silicon modulator . Strong light confinement in ultra-high index contrast nanophotonic circuits based on photonic crystals (Vlasov, McNab, 2004), photonic wires ( Tsuchizawa et al, 2005), and slot waveguides (Almeida et aL, 2004) permits dramatic downscaling of the active device area with reduced operation power and increased efficiency. Photonic crystal structures also allow the dedicated design of their dispersion properties, which can be utilized for phenomena such as superprisms (Wu et aL, 2002), or slow light propagation ( Gersen et aL, 2005).…”

Silicon Micro-Photonic Structure for Ultra-Sensitive Biosensing

“…The addition of this defect at the center of the cavity creates a local discontinuity in the field, increasing the strength of the field in the center of the cavity [11]. The addition of this defect at the center of the cavity creates a local discontinuity in the field, increasing the strength of the field in the center of the cavity [11].…”