Method of lines analysis of Gaussian beam coupling to dielectric slab waveguide

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to study the coupling efficiency from an optical laser source approximated by a normally incident Gaussian beam into a dielectric slab waveguide using the Method of Lines (MOL). The MOL is a semianalytical technique that results in higher accuracy, less computational time and smaller storage requirements in comparison with other numerical methods. Light can be coupled into a slab waveguide by several methods. In this work, we will be concerned with the analysis of endfire coupling. The launching conditions such as the incident Gaussian beam spot size, the location of the beam waist and the waveguide core width will be varied in order to investigate the optimum values that results in the highest efficiency. The effect of lateral offset as well as longitudinal offset will be considered. In addition, the effect of the presence of an antireflective layer between the light source and the slab waveguide will be studied.