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Interference effect in scattering loss of high-index-contrast planar waveguides caused by boundary reflections
J H Schmid1, A Delâge, B Lamontagne
1Institute for Microstructural Sciences, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada. jens.schmid@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Abstract:
We present theoretical and experimental results on an interference effect caused by boundary reflections on the optical scattering loss in high-index-contrast planar waveguides. Analytical expressions for the polarization-dependent scattering loss are derived using a surface Green's function. For high-index-contrast waveguides of submicrometer dimensions a significant deviation from accepted theory arises, including scattering loss suppression owing to a thin-film interference effect. Our theoretical predictions are confirmed by loss measurements on silicon-on-insulator channel waveguides.
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