FULL VECTORIAL ANALYSIS OF A NONLINEAR SLAB WAVE-GUIDE BASED ON THE NONLINEAR HYBRID VECTOR FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD

We propose a new nonlinear hybrid vector finite-element method to stud y the propagation of an optical beam in a nonlinear waveguide in three space dimensions, The new method is a combination of the edge-element and finite-difference methods; the former applies to the waveguide cr oss section and the latter to the propagation direction. To validate o ur method, a planar nonlinear waveguide (consisting of a linear substr ate, a linear film, and a Kerr-type cladding) that is end-fire excited by the TE(0) and TM(0) modes is studied numerically. We demonstrate t hat the external excitation of a nonlinear slab waveguide can produce sequential threshold behavior by means of multisoliton emission from t he waveguide. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America