Cutoff frequencies in planar optical waveguides with arbitrary index profiles: An efficient numerical method

A numerical method for obtaining mode cutoffs for planar waveguides with arbitrary index profiles is developed. The method is based on the Galerkin method in which the wave equation for modes at cutoff is converted to a matrix eigenvalue equation using a set of orthogonal basis functions. Due to different boundary conditions, we have identified two separate cases; one, in which the cover and the substrate indices are identical leading to same behavior of the field at cutoff in these two regions and, the other, in which the two indices are different and hence, the field behaves differently. We have accordingly chosen different basis functions for the two cases. The method results in a generalized matrix eigenvalue problem which has been converted to a standard symmetric matrix eigenvalue analytically. The method has been used to obtain mode cutoffs for waveguides with a variety of index profiles. Comparisons with available exact results show that very good accuracies can be obtained with moderate matrix sizes.