Hybrid coupled-mode modeling in 3D: perturbed and coupled channels, and waveguide crossings

Abstract

The 3D implementation of a hybrid analytical/numerical variant of the coupled-mode theory is discussed. Eigenmodes of the constituting dielectric channels are computed numerically. The frequency-domain coupled-mode models then combine these into fully vectorial approximations for the optical electromagnetic fields of the composite structure. Following a discretization of amplitude functions by 1D finite elements, procedures from the realm of finite-element numerics are applied to establish systems of linear equations for the then-discrete modal amplitudes. Examples substantiate the functioning of the technique and allow for some numerical assessment. The full 3D simulations are highly efficient in memory consumption, moderately demanding in computational time, and, in regimes of low radiative losses, sufficiently accurate for practical design. Our results include the perturbation of guided modes by changes of the refractive indices, the interaction of waves in parallel, horizontally or vertically coupled straight waveguides, and a series of crossings of potentially overlapping channels with fairly arbitrary relative positions and orientations.