Abstract

The propagation of guided TE and TM modes through graded-index planar waveguides is reported in this paper. Both a real-valued and complex-valued position-dependent refractive index are supposed for a film layer. It is possible to set various refractive index profiles based on five distribution parameters. For the position-dependent refractive index, the governing equations are transformed to Heun’s differential equation, an exact local solution expressed in terms of local Heun functions. The general nature of these functions is demonstrated based on four degenerate cases of Heun’s equation. The calculation of guided modes requires evaluation of the general solution in the interval containing two regular singular points. For this purpose, the generalized Heun function is introduced and employed in general solutions to the governing equations. The applicability of the generalized solutions is demonstrated by the calculation of guided modes for both the real-valued and complex-valued refractive index.

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