Abstract

The analytic solutions to the wave equation for linear optical waveguides are well established and understood. When one or more of the waveguide media is nonlinear, the solution to the wave equation is complex and requires more approximations. Several analytic solutions have been formalized for Kerr-type nonlinearities in the substrate and/or cover of a slab waveguide. Semiconductor waveguides are desired for some integrated optics applications. Important effects in semiconductor materials and waveguides that are neglected by the Kerr model are absorption, frequency dependence, and saturation of the nonlinearity, carrier diffusion, and surface recombination. Accounting for one or more of these effects makes an analytic solution to the wave equation complicated. As a result, numerical solutions become more attractive. We present the results of a numerical solution to the wave equation, including the above effects, for a nonlinear semiconductor waveguide. We discuss how these results can be used to design an optimum semiconductor waveguide.

© 1986 Optical Society of America