Abstract

The canonical equations governing the excitation of nonlinear guided waves in Kerr-type nonlinear media with chirped and tapered gratings are obtained by a perturbation procedure. These canonical equations, made specific for uniform gratings, predict (1) decreases in the excitation efficiency when either the incident intensity or the nonlinearity is increased and (2) limitations on the propagation distance for which a nonlinear guided wave accumulates a π phase shift with respect to a linear guided wave. In the case of uniform gratings, this propagation distance cannot be reduced by increasing the nonlinearity or by increasing the incident intensity. The efficiency of excitation can be increased significantly by use of chirped or tapered gratings. The acceptance angle for efficient excitation is also increased. Moreover, a combination of chirping and tapering can be optimized so that the efficiency exceeds the maximum efficiency of excitation for linear guided waves.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

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