Extension of the equivalent optical waveguide method to analyze multimode optical waveguides

Abstract

We present an extension of the equivalent optical waveguide method (EOWM) to analyze multimode optical waveguides with arbitrary refractive index profiles. Effective indices, propagation constants, and coupling/switching properties of multimode planar and channel optical waveguides can be easily obtained. This extension involves modeling the original optical waveguide by means of an equivalent optical waveguide for each guided mode. The effective indices are evaluated by applying the asymptotic effective index method (AEIM). Numerical values were obtained and compared with those presented by other authors. In all cases, good convergence and accuracy was noticed.