Design of optical waveguides considering thermo-mechanical aspects

Abstract

Optical waveguides are used as components in integrated optical circuits and as the transmission medium in optical communication systems. In recent age, optical fiber communication is the most promising contribution in communication systems due to its numerous advantages. Fabrication of optical waveguide is a very complex process. Stress is generated after fabrication of the waveguide because of thermomechanical effects of the materials used in the waveguide and thus, polarization occurs in the waveguide which causes the anisotropic distribution of the refractive index. The distribution of stress can be analyzed by a numerical investigation by finite element modeling. To achieve the accuracy of optical waveguide design, distribution of thermomechanical effects must be considered. In this paper, the thermomechanical effects of different waveguides are analyzed. It is observed that more efficient polarization-insensitive optical waveguide can be designed achieving better birefringence stability. Finite Element modeling of thermomechanical problems in optical waveguides and the stress distribution of various types of optical waveguides are analyzed.