Waveguidance

TIR at Two Parallel Interfaces  m  

or, tan k 0 a n1 cos   tan  (2)
Consider two parallel interfaces separated by a distance 2a  2  1 2
with the medium between the two interfaces being of index n1 and
the media above and below these interfaces with index n2 as shown where   (sin  / sin  c ) 2  1 and sin  c  n 2 / n1 . At TIR,
in Fig.1. Let a plane wave with electric field parallel to the y-axis the plane wavefront with field variation along x, according to the
(normal polarization) be incident on the upper interface making an evanescent wave and the standing wave, propagates along z with
angle  with the normal to the interface. This angle of incidence is propagation constant k 0 n2 sin  2  k 0 n2 1   2 where  2 is the
wave angle in the outer medium (which is imaginary in case of TIR).
Further, due to Snell's law, this propagation constant is same in all the
three medium and is thus, the propagation constant of the entire plane
wavefront. This wave is, in fact, a mode of the waveguiding structure
shown in Fig.1. Let us denote the propagation constant of a mode by
x
 . Thus,
  k 0 n2 sin  2  k 0 n1 sin  (3)
z and
y
cos  1  sin 2   k 02 n12   2 k 0 n1   k 0 n1
n12 sin 2  k 02 n12 sin 2   2  k 02 n22
Fig. 1: Waves at two parallel interfaces. 2   1   1  (4)
n22 k 02 n22 k 02 n22
larger than the critical angle so that total internal reflection takes place
at A,B,C, etc. points. The wave reflected at A is again reflected at B  
 , 1 2 
and then reaches the point C. The wave fronts at A and C would be k 0 n2 k 0 n2
parallel. In general, the wavefront from A, which would have passed
through C (i.e., DC), would have a phase difference with the wave where   k 02 n12   2 and    2  k 02 n 22 . With these new
front which reaches C through B. If this phase difference were an quantities, Eq.2 now becomes
integral multiple of 2 the two portion of the wavefront would
 m  
behave as if they are part of one wave. All further reflections then tan a   (5)
would produce segments of the wave which are all in phase with each  2  
other and the wave would propagate without any diffraction or any which can be written as
other change. For other cases, the wave would not be sustainable and
U tan U  W for even m
would therefore not exist in this structure. The phase change due to (6)
U cot U  W for odd m
the path difference [ABC]-[AD] is given by 4k 0 a n1 cos .
where
However, to complete the story, we must take into account the phase
change that TIR at A and B would introduce in addition to the phase U  a  a k 02 n12   2
difference due to propagation. Thus, the condition for a propagating
wave between these interfaces is: W  a  a  2  k02 n22 . (7)
We also define
4k 0 a n1 cos   4 N  2m (1)
V  U 2  W 2  k 0 a n12  n22 (8)
where  N is half of the phase change at one of the TIRs and m is an which is termed as the normalized frequency, or, simply, the V-
integer. number. This is the most important parameter for a given waveguide
Since at TIR, the wave in the lower index medium is an excited by a given wave-frequency.
evanescent wave, and in the higher index medium, the wave is a Equation 6 gives the eigenvalue equations which for a given
standing wave, there is no flow of energy normal to the interfaces value of V give values for U and hence, of the propagation constant
(  x - axis) and all the energy remains confined between the  . Since tangent is multi-valued function, it has several solutions
interfaces. However, there is a flow of energy along the interface (z- that correspond to different modes and these solutions, in fact,
axis). At each interface, the TIR produces a standing wave between correspond to different values of m.
the interfaces. These standing waves must overlap in phase for them
to sustain each other rather that destruct. Equation 1 gives the TE-modes
condition for this phase matching. Further, if one considers the wave
component travelling normal to the interfaces then there is back and In the above discussion, we have considered the normal
forth reflections like in a resonator and only resonant waves exist polarization and accordingly the electric field is polarized parallel to
inside a resonator. Equation 1 gives the resonance condition for such the interface, i.e., only Ey is non-zero. The other non-zero components
waves. are Hx and Hz. Now for the waveguide the z-direction is the direction
Using the expression for the phase change at TIR in of propagation and hence, the field component along z is termed as the
Eq.1, we get longitudinal field component. Thus, in this case, since Ez=0, the
electric field is entirely transverse. These solutions are therefore called
   tranverse electric (TE) waves. These solutions which have a definite
4k 0 a n1 cos   4 tan 1  tan    2m transverse field distribution propagating with a definite propagation
 2  constant  . As such the intensity distribution remains same at all
 1 
values of z. These are called modes of the waveguide. More
specifically, the solutions discussed above are called the TE modes. A
Anurag Sharma 1
mode corresponding to a given value of m is designated as TEm. The
field distribution is symmetric or antisymmetric with respect to the
central axis (x=0) for even or odd m, respectively.
LHS and RHS
U /
Fig. 2: Plot for the eigenvalue equation for
even TE modes.
The field distribution for the symmetric TE-modes can be
obtained as
E y ( x)  A cos(Ux / a ) x a
(9)
 A cos U e  ( x / a 1) x a
The continuity of the tangential Ey has been ensured in the above
expression while the continuity of the other components is ensured
through the eigenvalue equation. Thus, only for those values of U
which satisfy the eigenvalue equation, the continuity conditions are
satisfied and the field is a valid solution of Maxwell's equations.
Figure 2 shows a plot of the LHS and RHS of the
eigenvalue equation for symmetric TE modes as a function of U.
(Note that both the axes are scaled with  ). The intersection points
represent the solutions. In the case of the figure in which V  3.2 ,
there are only 4 intersection points, which correspond respectively,
with increasing values of U to TE0, TE2, TE4 and TE6. Obviously, as V
increases, the RHS curve moves away from the origin with more
intersection points occur indicating an increase in the number of
modes. It should also be noted that between two even modes, there is
always one odd mode, e.g., TE0 is followed by TE1 before TE2 is
possible. These odd modes correspond to the intersection of the RHS
curve with the plot of U cot U , different branches of which lie
between branches of the U tan U in Fig.2. The even modes are
symmetric about the x=0 plane while the odd modes are antisymmtric.
Figure 3 shows the field variation for TE0 and TE1 modes for a
waveguide with n1=1.5, n2=1.48 and d=3.912  m . For   1 m
and hence, V=3, we have  TE 0  9.4058 m -1
-1
 TE1  9.3525  m corresponding to U=1.1695 and 2.2788,
respectively. The mode-index m gives the number of maxima in the
field in the core region ( x  1 ) and there are no maxima in the
cladding region ( x  1 ). Also, the number of zeroes is given by m-1.
TE0
Ey (x/a)
TE1
x/a
Fig. 3: Modal field variation for the first two modes .
Anurag Sharma
TM-modes
Instead of the normal polarization, we now consider that the
incident wave ids P-polarized, then the non-zero field components
would be Ex, Ez and Hy. Thus, now the magnetic field is entirely
transverse and the modes are termed as the transverse magnetic (TM)
modes. The phase change at TIR in this case is different leading to a
slightly different eigenvalue equation:
n12
U tan U  W for even m
n22
(10)
n2
U cot U   12 W for odd m
n2
Since the factor n12 n22 is always larger than unity, the RHS for the
TM modes is slightly larger than the RHS for the TE modes in the
respective eigenvalue equation. Thus, the RHS curve for the TM
modes in Fig. 2 would be slightly away from the origin in comparison
to that for the TE modes. Thus, for the same mode index m, the U
value for the TM modes would be slightly larger. This situation is
depicted in Fig. 4. Accordingly the values of the propagation constant
are such that
 TE m   TM m as U TE m  U TM m (11)
TM (n2  1.40)
TM (n2  1.48)
LHS and RHS TE
U /
Fig. 4: Same as Fig. 2 with added RHS curves for the TM
modes with n1 =1.50 and n2 =1.40 (upper most curve) and
with n1 =1.5 and n2 =1.48 (middle curve). The lowest curve
is for the TE modes.
The electric field component Ex is discontinuous at the interface and
the magnetic field Hy is given by the same expression as for the Ey of
TE modes in Eq. 9. It may noted that the TE and TM modes are thus
orthogonally polarized. If the waveguide is excited by a x-polarized
wave then only TM modes will be excited while a y-polarized wave
would excite only the TE modes.
and
Scalar Approximation
Figure 4 shows that as n 2  n1 , the RHS curve for the
TM modes approach that for the TE modes. Even for a relatively large
difference when n2  1.4 and the curve appears well separated, the
value of U is not very different as the LHS curve is nearly vertical.
This suggests that when n 2  n1 , one can assume that the U-values
are same to a very good approximation. This is termed as the weakly
guiding approximation. Under this approximation, the two
orthogonally polarized solutions, the TE and TM modes, have
identical propagation constant and hence, propagate with same phase
velocity through the waveguide. This is like the two orthogonally
polarized plane waves in an homogeneous medium. Thus, under this
approximation any plane polarization would propagate without any
change and for the propagation properties of the waveguide, the
polarization of the wave have no role. This situation is termed as the
wave propagation under scalar approximation. The expression for the
field given in Eq. 9 is valid for any one transverse field component Ex,
Ey, Hx, or Hy. and the remaining components are obtained from
Maxwell’s equations.
2