Oblique Semi-Guided Waves: 2-D Integrated Photonics with Negative Effective Permittivity

Semi-guided waves confined in dielectric slab waveguides are being considered for oblique angles of propagation. If the waves encounter a linear discontinuity of (mostly) arbitrary shape and extension, a variant of Snell's law applies, separately for each pair of incoming and outgoing modes. Depending on the effective indices involved, and on the angle of incidence, power transfer to specific outgoing waves can be allowed or forbidden. In particular, critical angles of incidence can be identified, beyond which any power transfer to non-guided waves is forbidden, i.e. all radiative losses are suppressed. In that case the input power is carried away from the discontinuity exclusively by reflected semi-guided waves in the input slab, or by semi-guided waves that are transmitted into other outgoing slab waveguides. Vectorial equations on a 2-D cross sectional domain apply. These are formally identical to the equations that govern the eigenmodes of 3-D channel waveguides. Here, however, these need to be solved not as an eigenvalue problem, but as an inhomogeneous problem with a right-hand-side that is given by the incoming semi-guided wave, and subject to transparent boundary conditions. The equations resemble a standard 2-D Helmholtz problem, with an effective permittivity in place of the actual relative permittivity. Depending on the properties of the incoming wave, including the angle of incidence, this effective permittivity can become locally negative, causing the suppression of propagating outgoing waves. A series of high-contrast example configurations are discussed, where these effects lead to - in some respects - quite surprising transmission characteristics.