Date of Award
December 2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering (Holcomb Dept. of)
Committee Member
Judson D Ryckman
Committee Member
Judson D Ryckman
Committee Member
William R Harrell
Committee Member
Hai Xiao
Abstract
Dielectric waveguides are the solution to the ultra-fast optical communication. In all-dielectric waveguide systems, the boundary condition of Maxwell’s electromagnetic equation can be exploited. Crucially dielectric materials have very low optical losses compared to metal hence the plasmonic structures. Due to very high losses, plasmonic structures are not suitable for practical usage. Achieving small mode dimensions has become an important factor in modern devices since smaller mode dimensions fosters high device density, efficiency, and or performance in a wide array of photonic systems. Keeping these criteria in focus, a transversely structured all-dielectric waveguide has been introduced in this thesis which exploits the vectorial nature of light to achieve extreme sub-wavelength confinement in high index dielectrics, enabling characteristic mode dimensions below λ_0^2/1,000 without metals or plasmonics. A new metric of performance measurement for waveguide structures has been introduced – “optical concentration”. This metric of optical concentration has been derived and illustrated for its convenient usage in characterizing enhanced linear and nonlinear interactions at the nanoscale. This work expands the toolbox of nanophotonics and opens the door to new types of ultra-efficient and record performing linear and nonlinear devices with broad applications spanning classical and quantum optics.
Recommended Citation
Sakib, Nazmus, "Theory of Extreme Optical Concentration in All-Dielectric Waveguides" (2019). All Theses. 3220.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/3220