Abstract

Development of efficient, compact visible and ultraviolet sources are required for applications in optical recording and photodynamic activation of pharmaceutical agents. An attractive method for achieving compact visible and ultraviolet sources is laser diode pumping of quasiphase-matched (QPM) nonlinear waveguides.^1,2 Intrinsic to the development of efficient device technologies is a clear understanding of the guided spatial mode properties at the fundamental and second harmonic (SH) wavelengths. The beam propagation method (BPM) is an established technique to simulate the propagation of optical fields in optical waveguides.³ The authors have previously shown this method to be useful for modeling spatial modes in QPM waveguides.⁴ BPM was shown to be particularly useful in analysis of the diffraction effects associated with optical propagation in a weakly guiding structure containing a longitudinally varying index grating.

© 1996 Optical Society of America