A theoretical investigation of one-dimensional planar photonic crystal waveguides is carried out. These waveguides consist of a dielectric layer sandwiched between two semiinfinite periodic dielectric structures. Using a novel approach, exact analytical solutions for guided modes in such waveguides are presented. The se rigorous solutions allow one to distinguish clearly between the index-guiding regime and guidance due to the photonic crystal effect. In the first part of this investigation, a rigorous analysis of the reflection of uniform plane waves from a semi- infinite periodic dielectric structure is undertaken. Both parallel and perpendicular polarizations for the incident plane wave are considered. Exact expressions for the reflection coefficients corresponding to two polarization cases are obtained using an impedance approach. The results for the reflection coefficient are then used to study propagation properties of guided modes in one-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides with semiinfinite periodic cladding regions. Characteristic equations, from which propagation constants of guided modes can be obtained, and solutions for electromagnetic fields of these modes are derived. Solutions for both TE (transverse electric) and TM (transverse magnetic) modes are presented. Numerical results for the propagation constant and field distributions of several lower-order modes are presented. The solutions unique to photonic crystal waveguides are emphasized. / Master of Science

There is continued interest in nonlinear devices for different types of optical signal processing, such as Raman or parametric amplifiers. The small nonlinearity of conventional single-mode fibers sets a major limitation for these devices. A large nonlinearity can be achieved by having a large nonlinear coefficient, a small effective area, or both. Having a small effective area, however, requires efficient coupling to very small core fibers. A novel technique for splicing conventional single-mode fibers to small core fibers is proposed and demonstrated. The coupling efficiency obtained by this technique is considerably improved over that obtained by the butt-joint splice. This technique uses a highly tapered splice in which the field leaves the core and propagates as a fundamental cladding mode before it couples back to the core mode of the small core fiber. At the beginning of the taper the fundamental core mode carries most of the power. Over the down-taper region, the core mode couples to the fundamental cladding mode for which the cladding-air interface plays a major role in guiding the light. Over the up-taper region, the cladding mode is coupled back to the core mode. Fabrication of such a device involves many constraints. Alignment of the cores, the slope of the taper, and the taper length are important issues to ensure that excessive radiation loss does not take place. The theory of tapered single-mode fiber is discussed including adiabaticity criteria, length considerations, mode coupling and wavelength dependence. We use a computational simulation to examine how the field changes from one part of the taper to the other. Variations of the fiber and the field properties along the taper are studied. In this simulation, the tapered region is approximated as a sufficiently large number of cascaded uniform fiber segments of decreasing or increasing diameters. Another analysis based on the conservation of power flow is also provided. Tapered splices were fabricated using two different experimental setups. The experimental setup to verify our theoretical results is shown. The tapering process is thoroughly discussed. The spectrum of a tunable laser passing through a splice shows how modes interact with each other during the tapering process. We successfully fabricated very low loss tapers with extremely small diameters. Tapered splices showed a lower loss than their butt-joint counterparts. Experimental measurements of these tapered splices are presented and discussed. / Ph. D.

In this paper, we used the beam propagation method to analyze the characteristics of nonlinear optical waveguides. Refractive indexes of media in planar optical waveguides are changed with the electric field intensity called nonlinear planar optical waveguides. We use the modal theory to solve the three-layer planar optical waveguide with the guiding film is nonlinear. We not only obtained dispersion relation curves, but also observed the affections of the input power to field distributions. By the basic theory of this, we proposed a novel method to analyze multi-layer planar optical waveguides with nonlinear or localized nonlinear guiding films.By the theory and novel method we pointed out, on the other hand, we proposed an all-optical switch and analyze the all-optical device by the beam propagation method.

Guias de onda de luz foram fabricados por difusão térmica de Titânio em substratos de LiNbO3. Os índices efetivos dos modos guiados foram medidos usando o método de acoplamento por prismas e a equação de onda resolvida numericamente usando a aproximação WKB. Profundidade de difusão, variação máxima do índice de refração e o perfil da concentração de Titânio são calculados para um guia que suporta três modos TE / Optical waveguides have been fabricated by thermal diffusion of Titanium into LiNO3 substrate. The effective indices of guided modes have been measured using a prism coupling method and the wave equation has been solute numerically using the WKB approximation. The diffusion depth, maximum refractive index change and titanium concentration profited was calculated for one waveguide that support three TE modes

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal a produção e estudo de filmes de nitreto de alumínio (AlN) depositados por pulverização catódica (sputtering) reativa e a fabricação e caracterização de guias de onda tipo pedestal utilizando o AlN como núcleo. Inicialmente, filmes de AlN foram fabricados por pulverização catódica reativa (sputtering) de rádio frequência (RF) utilizando um alvo de alumínio (Al) com 99,999% de pureza, e nitrogênio (N2) como gás reativo. Subsequentemente, os filmes foram caracterizados mediante as técnicas de elipsometria, difração de raios X (DRX), espectroscopia de absorção por transformada de fourier na região do infravermelho (FTIR) e espectroscopia de absorção na região do ultravioleta e do visível (UV-VIS). Tendo as melhores condições ópticas e físicas para a deposição de filmes de AlN, foram fabricados neste trabalho guias de onda tipo pedestal utilizando estes filmes como núcleo. O guia de onda pedestal traz um processo de fabricação alternativo, em que a geometria do guia de onda determina-se na camada anterior ao do núcleo, assim já não é necessário delinear as paredes laterais da camada de núcleo facilitando desta forma, o processo de fabricação do dispositivo. Os guias de tipo pedestal fabricados neste trabalho foram definidos através da corrosão parcial do óxido de silício (SiO2) mediante a técnica de RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) usando gases trifluorometano (CHF3) e oxigênio (O2) como gases reativos. Uma vez definido o pedestal, um filme de nitreto de alumínio é depositado sobre o SiO2 com a finalidade de constituir o núcleo do guia de onda. O ar foi utilizado como revestimento superior, cujo índice de refração (n = 1) aumenta o confinamento da luz no núcleo e também para poder possibilitar a caracterização das perdas ópticas do dispositivo. Para esta caracterização usamos a técnica de vista superior que permitiu a análises das perdas ópticas de propagação para diferentes alturas de pedestal e diferentes espessuras de núcleo tanto para filmes de AlN orientado no plano cristalino (002) quanto para filmes de AlN amorfos. / The main objective of this work is the production and study of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) films deposited by reactive sputtering and the fabrication and characterization of pedestal optical waveguides using AlN as core. Initially, aluminum nitride films were produced by reactive sputtering using a 99.999% aluminum (Al) purity target, and nitrogen (N2) as the reactive gas. Subsequently, the films were characterized by ellipsometry, X-ray Diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS). Once the best optical and physical conditions for the deposition of AlN films were obtained, pedestal waveguides using these films as a nucleus were fabricated in this work. The pedestal waveguide provides an alternative manufacturing process where the geometry of the waveguide is determined in the pre-core layer, so it is no longer necessary to delineate the side walls of the core layer thereby facilitating the device fabrication process. The pedestal waveguides fabricated in this work were defined by the partial corrosion of SiO2 by the RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) technique using CHF3 and O2 gases as reactive gases. Once the pedestal is completed, an aluminum nitride film is deposited onto the SiO2 layer as the waveguide core. The air was used as an upper cladding, whose refractive index (n ? 1) increases the confinement of the light in the core and also allows the optical loss characterization. For this characterization, we used the superior view technique that allowed the analysis of optical propagation losses for different pedestal heights and different core thicknesses for both highly (002) oriented and amorphous AlN films.

The conventional large radii bends used in large cross section silicon-on-insulator waveguides were replaced with novel wet etched corner mirrors, potentially allowing much smaller devices, therefore lower costs. If such corners had been based on reactive ion etch techniques they would have had the disadvantage of rougher surfaces and poor alignment in the vertical direction. Wet etching overcomes these two problems by providing smooth corner facets aligned precisely to the vertical {100} silicon crystallographic planes. The waveguides obtained had angled walls, and so numerical analysis was undertaken to establish the single mode condition for such trapezoidal structures. To show the relationship between fabrication tolerances and optical losses a three dimensional simulation tool was developed, based on expansion of the incident mode into plane waves. Various new fabrication techniques were are proposed, namely: the use of titanium as a mask for deep silicon wet anisotropic etching, a technique for aligning masks to the crystal plane on silicon-oninsulator wafers, a corner compensation method for sloping sidewalls, and the suppression of residues and pyramids with the use of acetic acid for KOH etching. Also, it was shown that isopropyl alcohol may be used in KOH etching of vertical walls if the concentration and temperature are sufficiently high. As the proposed corner mirrors were convex structures the problem of undercutting by high order crystal planes arose. This was uniquely overcome by the addition of some structures to effectively convert the convex structures into concave ones. The corner mirrors had higher optical losses than were originally hoped for, similar to those of mirrors in thin film waveguides made by RIE. The losses were possibly due to poor angular precision of the lithography process. The design also failed to provide adequate mechanisms to allow the etch to be stopped at the optimal time. The waveguides had the advantage over thin film technology of large, fibre-compatible cross sections. However the mirror losses must be reduced for the technology to compete with existing large cross section waveguides using large bends. Potential applications of the technology are also discussed. The geometry of the crystal planes places fundamental limits on the proximity of any two waveguides. This causes some increase in the length of MMI couplers used for channel splitting. The problem could possibly be overcome by integrating one of the mirrors into the end of the MMI coupler to form an L shaped junction.

This thesis consist of a theoretical study of propagation effects in optical waveguides, fibres and photonic crystals, with some comparison with experiment.¶ Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction with the current view of optical components in photonic integrated circuits and issues related to the loss mechanism.¶ In Chapter 2 the characteristics of single-mode propagation and transient effects in practical square- and rectangular-core buried channel planar waveguides are quantified, assuming a cladding which is unbounded in one transverse dimension and bounded in the other. The wavelength cut-off condition for the fundamental mode is determined when the cladding index is asymmetric and composed of step-wise, uniform index regions.¶ In Chapter 3, the application of segmented reflection gratings in planar devices that can function as either a single- or two-wavelength add/drop filter is investigated and a numerical technique developed in Chapter 2 is applied to the waveguides with high extinction ratio. The role of the segmented gratings is analogous to that of a blazed grating, but they can provide a higher reflectivity level at the Bragg wavelength, eliminate back reflection into the fundamental mode and provide arbitrarily small channel spacing in the two-wavelength case.¶ Chapters 4 address the problem of bend loss in a single-mode slab waveguide. A new theoretical strategy for reducing bend loss is presented and compared to existing designs. The results obtained in this chapter are the basis for the following two chapters.¶ Chapter 5 deals with bend loss in single-mode buried channel waveguides and demonstrates that the new strategy can lead to significant bend loss reduction when compared to other strategies, and, conversely, can be used to enhance bend loss for a fixed bend radius for application to devices such as optical attenuators.¶ In Chapter 6, a novel design of a variable optical attenuator based on a bent channel waveguide is proposed, realized by applying a new strategy for bend loss control in a polymer buried channel waveguide.¶ Chapter 7 investigates effects of the additional rings in a single mode step-index fibre on bend loss. It is supported with the experimental results of Ron Bailey from Optical the Fibre Technology Centre, University in Sydney.¶ In Chapter 8, bend loss of a one-dimensional photonic crystal is quantified and compared to bend loss of a standard single-mode slab waveguide and a bend-resistant waveguide.¶

Optical waveguides, quantum dot emitters, and flat top beam shapers were designed and fabricated by two soft lithographic techniques; micro transfer molding (microTM) and vacuum assisted microfluidics (VAM). Optical waveguides were fabricated through a microTM technique that utilizes a poly dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp. Generation of the flexible stamp required development of a channel waveguide pattern mask, defined by maskless lithography, and followed by construction of a three dimensional channel waveguide master, acquired through contact lithography on a glass substrate coated with SU-8 photoresist. Creation of a positive imprint replicating mold was accomplished through prepolymer PDMS solution settling and curing around the master. Waveguide fabrication was achieved through PDMS conformal contact on, and subsequent curing of, ultraviolet (UV) polymer resins on a silicon substrate. A slight modification of the microTM PDMS stamp, whereby inlet and outlet tunnels were incorporated, resulted in a novel VAM structure and correspondingly waveguides. Waveguide propagation losses were determined to be 1.14 dB/cm and 0.68 dB/cm for the microTM and VAM fabricated waveguides, respectively. A lithographic approach employing quantum dots doped in SU-8 photoresist has led to the realization of a new quantum dot emitter. Uniform coating of a doped material on a silver coated substrate was followed by contact mask lithography. Evaporation of a thin silver layer, upon development of the resultant quantum dot doped channel waveguide structure, facilitates confined emission. Successful edge emitting was demonstrated with blue laser pumping. The lithographic fabrication of such quantum dot emitter is successfully replaced by soft lithographic VAM technique. A flat top beam shaper, whose profile was developed on cured UV polymer resins, was fabricated by microTM technique. The master used for the development of the PDMS stamp was produced through an iterative wet etching process capable of achieving etching depths as small as a few nanometers. Comparisons between the reference wet etched beam shaper and the microTM based beam shaper produced near identical output flat top beams from incident Gaussian beams. Through this research work, successful soft lithographic fabrication of optical waveguides, quantum dot emitters, and flat top beam shapers were demonstrated. The vast potential exhibited by these and other related technologies show great promise for cost-effective mass production of various micro optics and integrated photonic components.

Surface plasmon-polaritons are optical surface waves formed through the interaction of photons with free electrons at the surface of metals. They offer interesting applications in a broad range of scientific fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and material science. However, many of such applications face limitations imposed by the high propagation losses of these waves at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, which result mainly from power dissipation in the metal. In principle, the propagation losses of surface plasmon-polaritons can be compensated through optical amplification. The objective of this thesis is to provide deeper insights on the physics of surface plasmon-polariton amplification and spontaneous emission in surface plasmon-polariton amplifiers through theoretical and experimental vehicles applied (but not necessarily restricted) to a particular plasmonic mode termed long-range surface plasmon-polariton. On the theoretical side, the objective is approached by developing a realistic theoretical model to describe the small-signal amplification of surface plasmon-polaritons in planar structures incorporating dipolar gain media such as organic dye molecules, rare-earth ions, and quantum dots. This model takes into account the inhomogeneous gain distribution formed near the metal surface due to a non-uniform excitation of dipoles and due to a position-dependent excited-state dipole lifetime that results from near-field interactions between the excited dipoles and the metal. Also, a theoretical model to describe the amplified spontaneous emission of surface plasmon-polaritons supported by planar metallic structures is developed. This model takes into account the different energy decay channels into which an exited dipole located in the vicinity of the metal can relax. The validity of this model is confirmed through experimentation. On the experimental side, the objective is approached by providing a direct experimental demonstration of complete loss compensation in a plasmonic waveguide. The experiments are conducted using the long-range surface plasmon-polariton supported by a symmetric thin gold waveguide incorporating optically pumped organic dye molecules in solution as the gain medium. Also, an experimental study of spontaneous emission in a long-range surface plasmon-polariton amplifier is presented. It is shown that this amplifier benefits from a low spontaneous emission into the amplified mode, which leads to an optical amplifier with low noise characteristics. The experimental setup and techniques are explained in detail.

This dissertation addresses three research challenges in planar lightwave circuit (PLC) optical signal processing. 1. Dynamic localization, a relatively new class of quantum phenomena, has not been demonstrated in any system to date. To address this challenge, the quantum system was mapped to the optical domain using a set of curved, coupled PLC waveguides in aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs). The devices demonstrated, for the first time, exact dynamic localization in any system. These experiments motivate further mappings of quantum phenomena in the optical domain, leading toward the design of novel optical signal processing devices using these quantum-analog effects. 2. The PLC microresonator promises to reduce PLC device size and increase optical signal processing functionality. Microresonators in a parallel cascaded configuration, called "side coupled integrated spaced sequence of resonators" (SCISSORs), could offer very interesting dispersion compensation abilities, if a sufficient number of rings is present to produce fully formed "Bragg" gaps. To date, a SCISSOR with only three rings has been reported in a high-index material system. In this work, one, two, four and eight-ring SCISSORs were fabricated in AlGaAs. The eight-ring SCISSOR succeeded in producing fully formed Bragg peaks, and offers a platform to study interesting linear and nonlinear phenomena such as dispersion compensators and gap solitons. 3. PLCs are ideal candidates to satisfy the projected performance requirements of future microchip interconnects. In addition to data routing, these PLCs must provide over 100-bit switchable delays operating at ~ 1 Tbit/s. To date, no low loss optical device has met these requirements. To address this challenge, an ultrafast, low loss, switchable optically controllable delay line was fabricated in AlGaAs, capable of delaying 126 bits, with a bit-period of 1.5 ps. This successful demonstrator offers a practical solution for the incorporation of optics with microelectronics systems. The three aforementioned projects all employ, in their unique way, the coupling of light between PLC waveguides in AlGaAs. This central theme is explored in this dissertation in both its two- and multi-waveguide embodiments.