| Issue |
J. Eur. Opt. Soc.-Rapid Publ.
Volume 13, Number 1, 2017
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 37 | |
| Number of page(s) | 8 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41476-017-0065-5 | |
| Published online | 21 November 2017 | |
Research
Modal properties of a strip-loaded horizontal slot waveguide
Institute of Photonics, University of Eastern Finland, 80101, Joensuu, Finland
Received:
6
October
2017
Accepted:
13
November
2017
Background: Channel waveguides have been developed for years to comply with the need for smaller footprint and better integration in photonics circuits. However, they are still suffering from fabrication complexity and optical losses. These two limitations can be addressed by combining two types of channel waveguides, namely strip-loaded and slot waveguide.
Methods: We present a systematic study of the geometrical parameters of a strip-loaded horizontal slot waveguide and their influence on the characteristics of the device. Simulations and experiments are carried out to understand the behavior of the electromagnetic field inside such a waveguide. In particular, the influence of the high and low refractive index layers and the loading-strip on the key characteristics of the structure, i.e., the confinement factor and the effective index, are investigated theoretically and compared with experimental values.
Results: The main properties of this waveguide platform are a low lateral index contrast, a high vertical field confinement, and low-propagation losses (1.4 dB/cm).
Conclusions: Our results show that this platform is highly versatile, easy to fabricate and low-losses. We also show that the geometry of the mode can be tuned to suit the application.
Key words: Optical waveguides / Thin film devices / Nanophotonics / Propagation losses
© The Author(s) 2017
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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