Coupled-Mode Theory for Guided-Wave Optics.pdf

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-9, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 1973 919 Coupled-Mode Theory for Guided-Wave Optics AMNON YARIV Absrruct-The problem of propagation and interaction of optical radia- tion in dielectric waveguides is cast in the coupled-mode formalism. This ap- proach is useful for treating problems involving energy exchange between modes. A derivation of the general theory is followed by application to the specific cases of electrooptic modulation, photoelastic and magnetooptic modulation, and optical filtering. Also treated are nonlinear optical applications such as second-harmonic generation in thin films and phase matching. I. INTRODUCTION A GROWING BODY of theoretical and experimental work has been recently building up in the area of guided-wave optics, which may be defined as the study and utilization of optical phenomena in thin dielectric waveguides [l], [2]. Some of this activity is due to the hopes for integrated optical circuits in which a number of optical functions will be performed on small solid substrates with the interconnections provided by thin-film dielectric waveguides [3], [4]. Another reason for this interest is the possibility of new nonlinear optical devices and efficient op- tical modulators which are promised by this approach A variety of theoretical ad hoc formalisms have been utilized to datein treating thevarious phenomena ofguided- wave optics. In this paper we present a unified theory cast in the coupled-mode form to describe a large number of seemingly diverse phenomena. These include: 1) nonlinear optical interactions; 2) phase matching by periodic pertur- bations; 3) electrooptic switching and modulation; 4) photoelastic switching and modulation; and 5 ) optical filter- ing and reflection by a periodic perturbation. [51-[71. 11. THE COUPLED-MODE FORMALISM We will employ, in what follows, the coupled-mode for-