Numerically efficient full-vectorial rational Chebyshev pseudo-spectral modal analysis for optical Waveguides

Abstract

In this paper, an efficient full-vectorial modal analysis based on the rational Chebyshev pseudo-spectral method (V-RCPSM) is introduced to analyze 3 dimensional (3D) structures that are invariant along one spatial variable. Such structures are essential in silicon photonics and plasmonics applications where permittivity profiles with high-index contrast need precise treatment of the interface boundary conditions. Besides, such structures are open in general. Hence, good domain truncation is important. Our method handles these challenges via hybrid usage of the domain decomposition technique where the electromagnetic field is expanded in terms of Chebyshev functions in homogeneous regions, while the rational Chebyshev functions are used for semi-infinite homogeneous domains. The boundary conditions are rigorously imposed along the interfaces, a step that maintains the known exponential convergence rate of Chebyshev functions. Chebyshev functions have the ability to capture the correct rapid variation of the electromagnetic fields at the interfaces of the high-index-contrast waveguides using only a few basis functions; a critical feature for accurate mode computation. To show the accuracy and efficiency of our new approach, we studied rib and plasmonic waveguides and compared the results with those obtained using other full-vectorial approaches such as the finite elements method (FEM). Our developed approach has achieved a huge reduction in computational resources over the FEM.