DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION, INSTITUTE OF TECNOLOGY,

NIRMA UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD.

Optical Waveguides
Shape Optimization
White Paper
11/16/2018

Abstract

Optical waveguides form the foundation of the optoelectronics & telecommunications industry. They
include optical fibers and the integrated optical components which are capable of manipulating, filtering
and dispatching incoming optical signals. A ‘taper’ is a generic kind of optical waveguide having a cross-
sectional area that varies continuously along with its length z. Tapers are capable of coupling light from a
waveguide into another with different cross sectional profile. This study aims at developing a formulation
for the minimization of the power loss by providing variation to the taper profile of a fixed length. It turns
out that this shape optimization problem exhibits ill-posed behavior which slows down the convergence of
traditional optimization routines. We have tried to design a technique on how these problems can be
tackled by reformulating the shape optimization problem as a nonlinear inverse problem, which can then
be solved using established inverse problem regularization techniques.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

KEY CONTRIBUTORS

1.) Nisarg Darji (14bec040)

2.) Hardik Pandey (14bec046)
3.) Harsh Balar (14bec049)

TECHNICAL REVIEWER

Prof. Bhavin Kakani

Introduction
An optical waveguide is a spatially diverse or non uniform structure used for guiding
Electromagnetic Waves, i.e. they provide restriction in the spatial region through which the wave
can propagate. Usually, a waveguide is composed of a region of higher refractive index,
compared with the outside surrounding medium (cladding). However, the special feature is
‘guidance to the wave, e.g., by using reflections accordingly, e.g. at metallic interfaces.
Most of the waveguides provide two-dimensional guidance, thus they restrict the path of guided
light in two dimensions and permit the propagation necessarily in one dimension only. The most
popular as well as important type of two-dimensional waveguide in modern times is the optical
fiber. The other type of waveguides includes one-dimensional waveguides which are often called
as planar waveguides.
This analysis aims to develop a formulation and a proper method to minimize the taper length i.e.
z while making the loss as low as possible. This task can be completed by giving variation in the
taper profile.
We start our analysis by explaining the direct problem faced regarding the propagation of the
EM field in a generally used waveguide, and define the problem of optimization followed by
derivation of modal formulation of the problem, and establishing the equations for the modal
excitations in the taper. Determination of the excited power in the fundamental mode of the
waveguide is a necessary step as it gives us the first coefficient of the modal expansion. The field
continuity condition gives us the other coefficients. We then move towards showing how the
problem of power maximization can be broken down and designed as a non linear inverse
problem, solution of which can be done by establishing inverse regularization techniques.

Problem explained in 2D
For making the problem more clear and less complex, we have restrained ourselves case to two –
dimensional case. But, the same analysis and concepts are entirely applicable in the case of three
– dimension also.
We know that, in a continuous medium with varying permittivity ε the Maxwell equations can be
written as,

…. (1)
If we assume,  / y  0 (two-dimensional) then Hy=Ex=Ez=0 (the TE field) and the equations can
be re-written as:

… (2)

Here, we are only considering TE modes and not TM modes. Now, if we look at the normal propagation
in a generally used waveguide which looks like

Where, U = Ey; we assume that wave is reflected back completely from side walls and therefore U = 0.
Practically this situation is not a problem therefore the resultant field is given by:

... (3), (4)

Now, we need to find the conditions at   . So let us assume there is an input field coming from  
and this field U1 satisfies the previous conditions in  L . We need to express the fact that the scattered
field U- UI is travelling outwards on both sides and we can do this in terms of a modal expansion in  L ,
R .

So, the next task is to find the Eigen modes in these end conditions.
 … (5)

This can be applied to RHS as well,

So, the complete problem has now been reduced to find U x, y, z  s.t.
The Optimization Problem
Generally, our interest is more towards finding an optimal shape or refractive index distribution
which will give maximum power transfer to the waveguide. But, other physical limitations like
size or length are also to be considered while maximum power transfer condition needs to be
addressed as well.
For practical purpose we need the input foeld to be a fundamental mode of the waveguide and
~
the value of power present in the fumdamental mode U 1( R ) of output waveguide. This means we
2
need to get the coefficients C1 . This is given by

… (7)

Numerical Solution of the Optimization Problem

Now we need to parameterize the refractive index profile to solve the problem. We need to divide the
continuous shape into N discrete sub sections, each having fixed length uniformly distributed in z
direction. The refractive index profile would then be dependent on certain set of parameters. In this
case, these parameters are position of the boundaries of sub sections of waveguide {w1,w2,…,wN}.

Now, the calculation of field is done section wise with the help of local modal analysis. The continuity
condition at each interface will give us the coefficients in each subsection.

To maximize the Power function P(w1, w2, w3, …., wn), a variable metric optimization routine has been
used . The required derivatives were calculated using the method of finite differences. The initial shape
was chosen to be the linear taper with two different discretizations N.
Physical Interpretation of the Solution
It is believed that the shape must be like taper which means a smooth transition between the
input and output cross sections of the waveguide. As the length of taper increases the power will
remain in local fundamental mode even when it is changing along with the taper. The “optimal”
shape would then be the one that somehow maximizes this adiabatic behavior throughout the
waveguide. The most optimal shape would look like:

Conclusion
Referrences
[1]. https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-25-23-28210&id=376493

[2].