ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors consider Maxwell’s equations as applied to a planar optical waveguide. They start by considering what happens when light is reflected off a boundary. When the people look through a pane of glass, they see what is behind the glass (transmission) and what is in front (reflection). Planar optical waveguides are widely used in optical communications as modulators and integrated optical devices. They consist of a slab of high-refractive-index material surrounded by material of lower refractive index. There are two ways of studying propagation in planar waveguides – a ray path analysis and application of Maxwell’s equations together with boundary relationships.
