A theoretical analysis of the impact of iron nano-inclusions in multilayer waveguide structures with resonant layer effect

The field confinement in an optical waveguide can be hugely changed if the resonant layer effect (RLE) takes place. The net result is the suppression or enhancement of guided modes according to a proper design of the resonant layer. In this paper, the influence of the RLE on the fundamental TE-mode in a multilayer optical waveguide is theoretically investigated. The resonant layer is composed by Fe nanoparticles incrusted in an InGaAsP slab.  The corresponding field distribution, confinement factor and mode effective index are analyzed as a function of the thickness and fractional volume of Fe inclusions. Computed results indicate promising applications of the RLE to the improvement of integrated optical isolators and polarizers.