Optimized polymeric Mach-Zehnder rib waveguide structure derived from optical waveguide modeling techniques

In this paper an optimized structure of the polymeric Mach-Zehnder rib waveguide is derived from optical waveguide modeling Techniques. The simulation is carried out by employing the effective index method (EIM) and two-dimensional finite difference beam propagation method (2D-FD-BPM). The precision of the calculation is ensured by applying the EIM to reduce the large refractive index step between consecutive polymer layers. Important parameters of the waveguide and their relationships with the optical power transmission are investigated. The power loss of the optimized waveguide is ∼0.26 dB. The optimized structural parameters show good agreement with the reported ones derived from experiments.