Perturbation theory formulation of Maxwell's equations gives a theoretically elegant and computationally efficient way of describing small imperfections and weak interactions in electro-magnetic systems. It is generally appreciated that due to the discontinuous field boundary conditions in the systems employing high dielectric contrast profiles standard perturbation formulations fall when applied to the problem of shifted material boundaries. In this paper we developed a novel coupled mode and perturbation theory formulations for treating generic non-uniform (varying along the direction of propagation) perturbations of a waveguide cross-section based on Hamiltonian formulation of Maxwell equations in curvilinear coordinates. We show that our formulation is accurate and rapidly converges to an exact result when used in a coupled mode theory framework even for the high index-contrast discontinuous dielectric profiles. Among others, our formulation allows for an efficient numerical evaluation of induced PMD due to a generic distortion of a waveguide profile, analysis of mode filters, mode converters and other optical elements such as strong Bragg gratings, tapers, bends etc., and arbitrary combinations of thereof. To our knowledge, this is the first time perturbation and coupled mode theories are developed to deal with arbitrary non-uniform profile variations in high index-contrast waveguides. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.
