Analysis of second harmonic generation in photonic-crystal-assisted waveguides

We study second harmonic generation in a planar dielectric waveguide having a low-index, polymer core layer, bounded by two multilayer stacks. This geometry allows exceptionally strong confinement of the light at the fundamental wavelength inside the core region with virtually zero net propagation losses for distances that exceed several centimeters, provided that material and scattering losses are neglected. A phase-matched configuration of the waveguide is reported in which the pump signal is the lowest-order mode of the waveguide, and the generated second harmonic signal corresponds to the third propagation mode of the waveguide. Using a polymer waveguide core, having chi((2))similar to 100 pm/V, we predict a conversion efficiency of approximately 90% after a propagation distance of 2 mm, using peak pump intensities inside the core of the waveguide of 1.35 GW/cm(2). If the waveguide core contains polymer layers with different glass transition temperatures, the layers can be poled independently to maximize the overlap integral, and similar pump depletions may be achieved over a distance of approximately 500 mu m. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.