Beam propagation method and its application to integrated optic structures and optical fibers

Practical applications of integrated optics require understanding of light propagation in dielectric waveguides of various geometries and calls for elegant and quick methods of analysis. In this paper, we use beam propagation method to analyse some integrated optic waveguiding elements such as waveguide with bend and branching waveguide. The method is extended to cylindrical co-ordinates, so that structures with circular symmetry can be easily solved. We first present a general beam propagation method algorithm, followed by results taking typical values for various parameters. Our studies show that the efficiency of the method depends on thez-propagation steps and on the number of points chosen for the Fourier transform. The algorithm developed can be used to analyse many other integrated optic structures and to study the effect of other input beam profiles.