Complete power concentration into a single waveguide in large-scale waveguide array lenses.

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optics
• Waveguide Array Technology

Background:

• Waveguide array lenses focus incident light into fewer output waveguides.
• Ideal lenses achieve 100% power concentration into a single waveguide.
• Practical demonstration of ideal lenses for large waveguide arrays has been limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate complete power transfer in waveguide array lenses with large numbers of waveguides.
• To present a physical design for an ideal waveguide array lens.
• To extend the state-of-the-art in waveguide array lens design.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing state-of-the-art numerical methods for design and simulation.
• Employing spatial coupled mode theory for verification.
• Designing aperiodic metallic waveguide arrays.

Main Results:

• Achieved complete power transfer into a single waveguide for arrays exceeding a thousand waveguides.
• Extended the capability of waveguide array lenses by over two orders of magnitude.
• Demonstrated a physical design focusing ~100% of incident light into a deep-subwavelength spot.

Conclusions:

• Complete power concentration is achievable for large waveguide array lenses.
• The developed aperiodic metallic waveguide array design enables ideal focusing.
• This work paves the way for practical applications requiring high-power concentration in optics.