Theoretical study of polymeric metal clad optical waveguide polarizer

Planar optical waveguides consisting of thin dielectric films and buffer layers with metal cladding have been investigated theoretically. A computer program was written to calculate the exact zeroes of complex eigenvalue equation for TE and TM modes in multilayer metal clad waveguide polarizer. Numerical results and illustrations are given for Polycarbonate waveguide with other polymers as buffer and Al, Ag and Au as cladding metals at 0.6238μm. It is also shown that, using thin (finite) films of metal produce more efficient polarizers as compared to semi-infinite metal films. Effect of low index buffer layer on attenuation of TM/TE modes is also investigated.