Abstract

A simple thin-film beam splitter has been made by sputtering techniques. The device is similar in principle to beam splitters in bulk optics based on frustrated total reflection. It depends on a slow variation of guide thickness that permits the existence of an evanescent wave by which light is transferred from one side of the beam splitter to the other. The tunneling region has a variable index profile and there are no discontinuities. Fabrication techniques, theory, and experimental results are presented.

© 1977 Optical Society of America

Optical characterization of thin films*

W. J. Anderson and W. N. Hansen
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(8) 1051-1058 (1977)

Transmission and reflection of a Gaussian beam at oblique incidence on a dielectric slab

M. Tanaka, K. Tanaka, and O. Fukumitsu
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(6) 819-825 (1977)

Effects of a thin overlying film on optical waveguides and couplers*

Denis Vincent and John W. Y. Lit
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 66(3) 226-232 (1976)

Wave propagation in semileaky-type anisotropic thin-film optical waveguides

Y. Okamura, S. Yamamoto, and T. Makimoto
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(4) 539-545 (1977)

Reflection and refraction of an arbitrary wave at a plane interface separating two uniaxial crystals

Jakob J. Stamnes and George C. Sherman
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(5) 683-695 (1977)