Rediscovering the waveguide beam splitter/combiner

Changhe Zhou; Xin Zhao; Liren Liu

doi:10.1117/12.481271

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28 August 2002 Rediscovering the waveguide beam splitter/combiner

Changhe Zhou, Xin Zhao, Liren Liu

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Proceedings Volume 4904, Optical Fiber and Planar Waveguide Technology II; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.481271
Event: Asia-Pacific Optical and Wireless Communications 2002, 2002, Shanghai, China

Abstract

By establishing the relation of Talbot self-imaging effects in free space and in waveguide, we have rediscovered the self-imaging diffraction effect in waveguide with the view of Talbot effect in free-space. We have found that the diffraction theory of Talbot effect in free space do give us a set of simplified equations, that can't be obtained with the theory of multimode interference (MMI), beam propagation method, etc.. We show that simple equations for explanation of Talbot self-imaging effect in free space can be used to design the waveguide beam splitters and combiners. Thus, the heavy designing work with the previous multimode interference method can be released with the new simple equations. More importantly, new configurations of waveguide beam splitters and combiners can be designed with the simple equations. The importance of rediscovering waveguide beam splitter is that a complete new and clear physical picture can explain the complex self-imaging phenomena in waveguide, which should be highly interesting for practical applications.

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Changhe Zhou, Xin Zhao, and Liren Liu "Rediscovering the waveguide beam splitter/combiner", Proc. SPIE 4904, Optical Fiber and Planar Waveguide Technology II, (28 August 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.481271

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