Extension of the radiation spectrum method for the reflection calculation at the end of a strongly guiding optical waveguide

Abstract

In this work we extend the radiation spectrum method (RSM) with evanescent modes to use it for the calculation of the reflection coefficient at the end of a strongly guiding dielectric waveguide. The extension is made by considering the coupling between the radiation (or evanescent) modes at both sides of the optical discontinuity. To insure the convergence of the method, this extension is achieved analytically. Using this technique, we show that for small guide width, the generation of evanescent modes results in a complex reflection coefficient. The magnitude and the phase of the reflection coefficient are calculated and compared with the simple theory of the effective index as well as the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique. The spectra of the transmitted and reflected fields are also obtained.