This Letter proposes a dielectric waveguide with deep-subwavelength mode sizes. Results of both frequency domain and time domain analysis show that the effective mode area is below ${\lambda }_0^2/400$ and can even reach ${\lambda }_0^2/1000$ (${\lambda }_0$ is the wavelength in vacuum). The effective electrical mode area can be comparable to that of a hybrid plasmonic subwavelength confinement waveguide, with reduced optical absorption. In contrast to slot waveguides, which guide light in low-index materials, the proposed structure guides light in high-index materials. Results obtained in this Letter show that the losses are sensitive to the surface roughness on the tens of nanometers scale. The structure can be used to design ring resonators with a quality factor comparable to that of a diffraction-limited dielectric ring resonator with the same standing wave numbers. The property can be applied in nonlinear effect enhancement or laser design with ultralow threshold.

© 2012 Optical Society of America

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