Full-vectorial analysis of optical waveguides by the finite difference method based on polynomial interpolation

Based on the polynomial interpolation, a new finite difference （FD） method in solving the full-vectorial guidedmodes for step-index optical waveguides is proposed. The discontinuities of the normal components of the electric field across abrupt dielectric interfaces are considered in the absence of the limitations of scalar and semivectorial approximation, and the present PD scheme can be applied to both uniform and non-uniform mesh grids. The modal propagation constants and field distributions for buried rectangular waveguides and optical rib waveguides are presented. The hybrid nature of the vectorial modes is demonstrated and the singular behaviours of the minor field components in the corners are observed. Moreover, solutions are in good agreement with those published early, which tests the validity of the present approach.

Density cavities generated by plasma-field interactions in the far wake region of a space vehicle

Under the consideration of non-steady case, a set of equations is derived, which describes the non-steady nonlinear interactions between plasma and field in the far wake region of a space vehicle. Numerical calculations are also made and the numerical results show that density cavities and electromagnetic solitary waves are generated due to the modulation instability, if the envelope of high frequency modulation field is strong enough. This is of great significance to the detection of disguised space vehicles.

Full-vectorial finite-difference beam propagation method based on the modified alternating direction implicit method

A modified alternating direction implicit algorithm is proposed to solve the full-vectorial finite-difference beam propagation method formulation based on H fields. The cross-coupling terms are neglected in the first sub-step, but evaluated and doubly used in the second sub-step. The order of two sub-steps is reversed for each transverse magnetic field component so that the cross-coupling terms are always expressed in implicit form, thus the calculation is very efficient and stable. Moreover, an improved six-point finite-difference scheme with high accuracy independent of specific structures of waveguide is also constructed to approximate the cross-coupling terms along the transverse directions. The imaginary-distance procedure is used to assess the validity and utility of the present method. The field patterns and the normalized propagation constants of the fundamental mode for a buried rectangular waveguide and a rib waveguide are presented. Solutions are in excellent agreement with the benchmark results from the modal transverse resonance method.

A reflective semiconductor optical amplifier based all-optical header separator

An all-optical header extraction scheme based on the reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) is presented, which can be used to process variable-length and bit-rate transparent packets. Through selecting the appropriate carrierlifetime of the RSOA, the payload pulses obtain smaller gains than header pulses and are considered to be compressed. By using the reflective structure, the header pulses can acquire larger gains than the payload twice, and the contrast radio (CR) is improved. The simulation results show that the CRs can reach 22.8 dB and 18 dB for the packets with header pulses at the rates of 2.5 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s, respectively, and these values can be optimized through properly selecting the structure parameters, such as the small-signal gain and saturation energy.

An improved three-dimensional full-vectorial finite-difference imaginary-distance beam propagation method

A modified alternating direction implicit approach is proposed to discretize the three-dimensional full-vectorial beam propagation method （3D-FV-BPM） formulation along the longitudinal direction. The cross-coupling terms （CCTs） are neglected at the first substep, and then double used at the second substep. The order of two substeps is reversed for each transverse electric field component so that the CCTs are always expressed in an implicit form, thus the calculation is efficient and stable. Based on the multinomial interpolation, a universal finite difference scheme with a high accuracy is developed to approximate the 3D-FV-BPM formulation along the transverse directions, in which the discontinuities of the normal components of the electric field across the abrupt dielectric interfaces are taken into account and can be applied to both uniform and non-uniform grids. The corresponding imaginary-distance procedure is first applied to a buried rectangular and a GaAs-based deeply-etched rib waveguide. The field patterns and the normalized propagation constants of the fundamental and the first order modes are presented and the hybrid nature of the full-vectorial guided-modes is demonstrated, which shows the validity and utility of the present approach. Then the modal characteristics of the deeply- and shallow-etched rib waveguides based on the InGaAsp/InGaAsP strained multiple quantum wells in InP substrate are investigated in detail. The results are necessary for modeling and the design of the planar lightwave circuits or photonic integrated circuits based on these waveguides.