title: Full vectorial simulation for characterizing loss or gain in optical devices with an accurate and automated finite-element program.
abstract: An efficient, accurate, and automated vectorial finite-element method is described to characterize arbitrarily shaped optical devices having loss or gain properties. The method can be easily implemented inside the pde 2 d software environment, where an interactive session allows the user to specify the problem in a easy-to-use format. For the method to be validated, modal dispersion characteristics of high loss metal-coated optical fibers that have recently been used in applications in scanning near-field optical microscopy are presented and compared with results obtained with two vectorial approaches, i.e., the field expansion and the multiple-multipole methods. These results clearly illustrate the flexibility, accuracy, and ease of implementation of the method.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Optoelectronique, Université du Québec à Hull, Case Postale 1250, Succursale B, Hull, Québec J8X 3X7, Canada.
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Tzolov
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fontaine
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sewell
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delâge