Denis Kopylov and Manfred Hammer, researchers from the University of Stuttgart, have made significant strides in understanding the behavior of light in optical waveguides, a crucial component in integrated photonic circuits. Their work, published in the journal Optica, bridges the gap between classical electromagnetic theory and quantum mechanics, offering a more comprehensive understanding of how light behaves in these structures.
In their study, Kopylov and Hammer focused on the guided modes supported by dielectric channel waveguides. These modes are essentially the different ways that light can travel through the waveguide. The researchers demonstrated that these modes can act as individual carriers of momentum, a property that has been less explored compared to the more familiar energy orthogonality in these systems.
The team proved that the modes satisfy an orthogonality condition related to the momentum of the optical electromagnetic field. This finding is significant because it establishes a link between the momentum and the power (energy) orthogonality of the modes. This result is not just theoretical; it provides a rigorous, self-consistent procedure for quantizing broadband guided electromagnetic fields in typical channels used in integrated photonic circuits.
The researchers’ approach is versatile, applicable to straight, lossless, and potentially anisotropic dielectric waveguides of general shape, operating in the linear regime and including material dispersion. They illustrated their findings with examples from hybrid modes of a thin film lithium niobate strip waveguide, a material commonly used in photonic applications.
This work is a step forward in the field of integrated photonics, as it offers a more complete understanding of how light behaves in waveguides. This could lead to more efficient design and control of photonic circuits, which are essential in various applications, including telecommunications, sensing, and quantum computing. The research was published in the journal Optica, a leading publication in the field of optics and photonics.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.