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A coupler-type transverse electric/transverse magnetic (TE/TM) polarization splitter, in which a metal-loaded core is slightly widened, is analyzed using the three-dimensional beam-propagation method. Before analyzing the splitter with the slightly different core widths, the performance of a splitter with two identical cores is evaluated. The use of the two identical cores results in a high crosstalk and a low extinction ratio due to the phase mismatch between the waveguides with and without the metal for the TE mode. Therefore, the core width in the metal-loaded waveguide is slightly widened so as to restore the phase-matching condition. In contrast to the conventional splitter with the two identical cores, the present splitter is found to offer a low crosstalk of less than -30 dB and a high extinction ratio of more than 30 dB with a coupling efficiency of more than 97% at a wavelength of 1.55 mum. In addition, the wideband operation is demonstrated over a wavelength range of 1.50 to 1.61 mum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A novel polarization converter using a triangular waveguide is proposed and analyzed by the imaginary-distance beam-propagation method based on Yee's mesh and the finite-difference time-domain method. The polarization conversion length is investigated as a function of relative refractive index difference. It is found, for a silicon core embedded in a silica cladding, that the conversion length is 2 mum, while the insertion loss is 0.5 dB at a wavelength of 1.55 mum. The extinction ratio is more than 20 dB over a wide wavelength range of 1.25 to 1.65 mum. Using a geometrically expanded model, the polarization conversion behavior is verified in the experiment at a microwave frequency of 15 GHz. Finally, reasonable polarization conversion is obtained with a modified structure, in which the two corners of the triangular waveguide are cut and the cut plane is aligned with a square input (output) waveguide. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multilayer thin-film waveguides (MTFWs) are analyzed using the beam-propagation method based on Yee's mesh. The birefringence properties of the MTFW are demonstrated by the eigenmode analysis based on the imaginary-distance procedure. Taking advantage of the birefringence, a polarization splitter composed of two parallel MTFWs is proposed. Calculation shows that a short device length of 270 mum is obtainable with crosstalks of -33.5 dB for the quasi-transverse-electric mode and -20.7 dB for the quasi-transverse-magnetic mode. A crossing-type polarization splitter is also developed, and the device length is further reduced to 120 mum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Kretschmann-type surface plasmon resonance waveguide sensor is analyzed using the wide-angle beam- propagation method (BPM) with the complex Pade approximant and the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) methods based on the recursive convolution (RC) and piecewise linear RC (PLRC) techniques. The wavelength responses of the sensor are calculated, and a detailed comparison of the numerical results is made. The BPM results are validated through a comparison with the FDTD results, in which the PLRC technique is required in terms of accuracy. The waveguide sensor shows a maximum absorption wavelength shift from 0.609 to 0.623 mum, as the refractive index of an analyte is increased from 1.330 to 1.334, which is comparable to the sensitivity of the conventional Kretschmann configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The three-dimensional (3-D) beam-propagation method is applied to the analysis of a novel transverse electric/transverse magnetic (TE/TM) wave splitter using a light-guiding metal (Ag) line with an embedded dielectric (SiO2) waveguide. Before analyzing the splitter, a mode converter with a tapered metal is designed to smoothly convert the guided mode of an embedded waveguide into the surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) mode, and vice versa. After demonstrating the effectiveness of a converter consisting of a two-step linear taper, the performance of the splitter is evaluated. To obtain a high coupling efficiency, the wavefront mismatch of the SPP mode is compensated for. In addition, a TE-pass polarizer is added to the TE output waveguide, reducing the undesirable TM wave. In contrast to the long device length of a conventional branch-type splitter (>1000 mum), the present splitter is found to have a noticeably short device length of less than 200 mum, although a loss of about 3 dB is observed for the TM wave. The crosstalk and the extinction ratio are, respectively, evaluated to be less than -15 dB and more than 15 dB for a branching angle of 16plusmn2deg at wavelengths of 1.31 and 1.55 mum [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]