Abstract

A natural framework for evaluating prism-coupler performance is provided by a recently developed geometrical construction in which refraction through a prism for an arbitrary angle of incidence is represented by an ellipse. The useful operating range of a prism coupler is represented by the portion of the representational ellipse that appears within a window determined by the mode propagation conditions of a thin-film–substrate system.

© 1983 Optical Society of America

Refractive-index measurement of bulk materials: prism coupling method

Hidetoshi Onodera, Ikuo Awai, and Jun-ichi Ikenoue
Appl. Opt. 22(8) 1194-1197 (1983)

Measuring refractive index and thickness of thin films: a new technique

Tie-Nan Ding and Elsa Garmire
Appl. Opt. 22(20) 3177-3181 (1983)

Measurement of Thin Film Parameters with a Prism Coupler

R. Ulrich and R. Torge
Appl. Opt. 12(12) 2901-2908 (1973)

Birefringent prism couplers for thin-film optical waveguides

Irwin J. Kurland and Henry L. Bertoni
Appl. Opt. 17(7) 1030-1037 (1978)

Determination of refractive index, thickness, and the optical losses of thin films from prism-film coupling measurements

Julien Cardin and Dominique Leduc
Appl. Opt. 47(7) 894-900 (2008)