Propagation Losses of Guided Waves in Metallized Sidewall Waveguides

Abstract

A step-index planar waveguide sidewalled with metals is theoretically studied by the effective refractive index method. Numerical results of the geometrical and wavelength dispersions of the propagation losses and the wavefunction profiles of the guided and the surface plasmon modes are presented. The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of fabricating low-loss and small-size integrated optical waveguides or circuits using the metallized sidewall structure.