Full Vectorial Finite Element Solution of Complex and Nonlinear Modes in Optical Waveguides

Abstract

The need for an accurate numerical technique to perform the modal analysis of various linear, nonlinear, and lossy (or lossy) optical waveguides is known to exist in industry for better systems design and analysis. Many different analytical, semi-analytical and numerical approaches have been proposed for this purpose during the last two decades: however the vector H-field finite element method (VFEM) [1] stands out as one of the most accurate and versatile modal analysis techniques. Very recently, Koshiba et al. [2] has proposed a combination of the scalar Finite element based BPM approach with imaginary distance propagation to solve for the modes of linear optical waveguides. In this paper, our full vectorial finite element based beam propagation method (VFEBPM) [3] is combined with the complex, in general, axis propagation technique (IDVFEBPM) to accurately solve for the linear and nonlinear modes of different optical waveguides. The effectiveness and numerical precision of the proposed modal solution approach is shown through the excellent agreement of the results obtained using the VFEBPM and those reported in the literature, obtained using different rigorous numerical approaches.