Threshold conditions of electric field enhancement and energy confinement in the low-index core of nanoscale waveguides

Abstract

Threshold conditions to realize electric field enhancement and energy confinement in the low-refractive-index core of nanoscale waveguides are studied by solving the field function. When the incident lightwave meets the relation of special thresholds, we observe the enhanced electric field and a concentrated light energy in the core. The electric field enhancement and the confined light power are highly dependent on the light wavelength. When the core width is 30 nm, for a wavelength of 1.55 µm, we achieve a power confinement factor above 40%. As the basis for a growing number of potential applications, the threshold conditions discovered in this work will find significant applications in many fields, such as optical sensors and optical communication components.