Date/Time
Date(s) - 28/06/2011
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Semiclassical Coupled Wave Theory for Optic Waves in Periodically Stratified Media

Speaker: Dr. Gregory Morozov

Institute:

Location: ABB 431

Description:

Conventional one-dimensional (1D) periodically stratified dielectric or metal/dielectric structures retain most of useful properties of 2D and 3D photonic crystals for incident light. However, they are much more attractive from a technological point of view. The usual theoretical methods for description of wave propagation through such 1D structures include the Floquet-Bloch formalism, the transfer matrix method, and the coupled wave theory. Among these three, the coupled wave theory offers superior physical insight and gives simple analytical results in limiting cases. Unfortunately, the conventional coupled wave theory due to Kogelnik and Southwell fails in the case of high refractive index contrast, which is essential for a functional 1D crystal.

In this talk, I review the recently developed semiclassical version of coupled wave theory. This version includes both variable amplitude and variable (geometric-optics) phases in the counter-propagating waves. As a result, the modified expressions for coupling coefficients of those waves are obtained. It turns out that being analytically almost as simple as the conventional coupled wave theory the semiclassical version is essentially exact for any practically achievable modulation of the refractive index in optical periodic structures