Bent planar waveguides and whispering gallery modes: a new method of analysis

Abstract

A matrix method for analyzing bent planar optical waveguides is discussed. The method is a modification of an earlier method which yields bend loss directly, inasmuch as a nonuniform refractive index is approximated by a series of linear profiles rather than a series of uniform profiles. The method can be used with absorbing or leaky structures. The effect of whispering gallery modes has also been studied. It appears that a whispering gallery explanation given by H.J. Harris and P.F. Castle (1986) may not be adequate.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>