Acoustic modes in optical fiberlike waveguides

A perturbation analysis of guided and leaky modes in fiber acoustic waveguides with core and cladding parameters that are slightly different is presented. The perturbing parameter is the shear-velocity difference between the core and cladding material epsilon(s). Acoustic fields and eigenvalues are expanded in power series of epsilon (s)(1/2) for radial and flexural modes and in powers of epsilon(3) for torsional modes. Expansion of leaky longitudinal modes is also in terms of epsilon(s), but the nature of perturbation analysis for these modes is somewhat different from that of guided modes. Zero-order solutions for all types of modes are obtained, and some important higher-order effects are discussed. Common features of optical and acoustic modes in weakly guiding fibers are addressed. It is shown that with respect to zero-order solutions of guided modes, optical and acoustic fibers have identical propagation characteristics. Exact and zero-order propagation characteristics for several lower-order shear-type modes are calculated and compared.