Analysis of optical waveguiding properties of self-Assembled block copolymer films using FDTD method

摘要

Block copolymers (BCPs), which self-assemble into spatially periodic one-dimensional (ID) ordered lamellar equilibrium structures, can be used as multilayer waveguide materials. In this article, the hybrid modal characteristics of three representative self-assembled BCPs multilayer stripe waveguides were studied with compact 2D finite-difference time-domain (2D-FDTD) method. By comparing our numerical results with those obtained by the N-layer waveguide formalism, it is found that on some occasions the two-dimensional (2D) formalism is a good choice to substitute for the three-dimensional (3D) modal analysis of multilayer waveguide . It is also been proved that if the sequence of the two different index layers is inverted in the structure, the modal analysis results change dramatically and the lamellar width is an important factor that influences the optical field distribution of the waveguide modes. An investigation about the triblock copolymer (tri-BCP) waveguide revealed that its field distribution layered more obviously for the particularity of tri-BCP waveguide core structure.