Optical field concentration in low-index waveguides

Author

Feng, Ning-Ning ; Michel, Jurgen ; Kimerling, Lionel C.

Author_Institution

Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., MIT, Cambridge, MA

Volume

42

Issue

9

fYear

2006

Firstpage

885

Lastpage

890

Abstract

We present a highly efficient optical field concentrator that is capable of confining optical field in nanometer-thin low-index media with very high optical confinement factor. The structure is made of multiple-layered low-index nanolayers embedded in high-index silicon waveguides. By creating multiple high-index-contrast interfaces, the normal field in the low-index nanolayer regions is significantly enhanced. It subsequently results in a very high optical confinement and power density in these regions. With the help of numerical simulation tools, the guiding and propagating characteristics of the new structure are studied and presented. The optimal structures have demonstrated confinement factors and normalized power densities in the range of 30%-60% and 20-160 mum^-2 for the 5-20-nm thin low-index multiple nanolayers

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; nanostructured materials; optical design techniques; optical multilayers; optical waveguides; refractive index; silicon; 5 to 20 nm; Si; low-index nanolayers; low-index waveguide; multiple layers; optical confinement factor; optical field concentrator; Magnetic confinement; Magnetic field measurement; Optical devices; Optical modulation; Optical propagation; Optical reflection; Optical resonators; Optical saturation; Optical sensors; Optical waveguides; Field concentration; low-index guiding; optical confinement factor; optical waveguides;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2006.880061

Filename

1661786