Photonic crystal optical waveguides having tailored dispersion profiles

An optical waveguide having a working mode with a tailored dispersion profile, the waveguide comprising:

• a dielectric confinement region surrounding a waveguide axis, wherein during operation the confinement region guides EM radiation in a first range of frequencies to propagate along the waveguide axis;
• a dielectric core region extending along the waveguide axis and surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the core supports at least one guided mode in the first frequency range, and wherein the core has an average refractive index smaller than that of the dielectric confinement region;
• and
• a dielectric dispersion tailoring region surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the dispersion tailoring region introduces one or more additional modes in the first range of frequencies that interact with the guided mode to produce the working mode.

An optical waveguide comprising:

• a dielectric confinement region surrounding a waveguide axis, the confinement region comprising a photonic crystal structure producing at least one photonic bandgap, wherein during operation the confinement region guides EM radiation in a first range of frequencies to propagate along the waveguide axis;
• a dielectric core region extending along the waveguide axis and surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the core supports at least one guided mode in the first frequency range;
• and
• a dielectric dispersion tailoring region surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the presence of the dispersion tailoring region causes the guided core mode to form a working mode that penetrates into the dispersion tailoring region for at lease one subset of frequencies within the first range of frequencies.

A photonic crystal optical waveguide comprising:

• a dielectric core region extending along a waveguide axis;
• a plurality of higher index dielectric layers and a plurality of lower index dielectric layers alternating with one another to surround the core about the waveguide axis;
• and
• at least one additional dielectric layer positioned between the core and the pluralities of alternating dielectric layers, wherein the thickness of the additional dielectric layer differs from that of each of any three consecutive layers in the pluralities of alternating dielectric layers by more than 10%.

An optical waveguide comprising:

• a dielectric confinement region surrounding a waveguide axis, wherein during operation the confinement region guides EM radiation in a first range of frequencies to propagate along the waveguide axis;
• a dielectric core region extending along the waveguide axis and surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the core has an average refractive index smaller than that of the dielectric confinement region, defines a light line, and supports at least one guided mode in the first frequency range;
• and
• a dielectric dispersion tailoring region surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the presence of the dispersion tailoring region introduces causes the guided mode to form a working mode that crosses over the light line.

An optical waveguide comprising:

• a dielectric confinement region surrounding a waveguide axis, wherein during operation the confinement region guides EM radiation in a first range of frequencies to propagate along the waveguide axis;
• a dielectric core region extending along the waveguide axis and surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the core supports at least one guided mode in the first frequency range;
• and
• a dielectric dispersion tailoring region surrounded by the confinement region about the waveguide axis, wherein the presence of the dispersion tailoring region causes the guided core mode to form multiple discontinuous working modes each of which penetrates into the dispersion tailoring region for a different subset of frequencies within the first range of frequencies.