WAVE-GUIDES FORMED BY MULTIPLE LAYERS OF DIELECTRIC, SEMICONDUCTOR, OR METALLIC MEDIA WITH OPTICAL LOSS AND ANISOTROPY

A new method is presented for exact analysis of planar waveguides formed by stratified anisotropic media with possible optical loss or gain. Putting the waveguide eigenvalue equation into a form that is convenient for numerical treatment permits efficient calculation of the waveguide dispersion relation. The method guarantees that all confirmed modes are found, and it handles degenerated and nearly degenerated modes. Dielectric and semiconductor waveguides are analyzed, as well as waveguides that include metallic layers. Graded-index structures are analyzed by subdivision of the graded profile into a multiple-step (C) 1995 Optical Society of America