ISRN Mathematical Physics

Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 184325, 7 pages

http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/184325

Research Article

On the Problem of Electromagnetic Waves Propagating along a Nonlinear Inhomogeneous Cylindrical Waveguide

Yury G. Smirnov and Dmitry V. Valovik

Department of Mathematics and Supercomputing, Penza State University, Krasnaya Street. 40, Penza 440026, Russia

Received 23 April 2013; Accepted 6 June 2013

Academic Editors: G. Cleaver, J. Garecki, F. Sugino, and G. F. Torres del Castillo

Copyright © 2013 Yury G. Smirnov and Dmitry V. Valovik. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract.

Electromagnetic TE wave propagation in an inhomogeneous nonlinear cylindrical waveguide is considered. The permittivity inside the waveguide is described by the Kerr law. Inhomogeneity of the waveguide is modeled by a nonconstant term in the Kerr law. Physical problem is reduced to a nonlinear eigenvalue problem for ordinary differential equations. Existence of propagating waves is proved with the help of fixed point theorem and contracting mapping method. For numerical solution, an iteration method is suggested and its convergence is proved. Existence of eigenvalues of the problem (propagation constants) is proved and their localization is found. Conditions of k waves existence are found.

1. Introduction

Electromagnetic wave propagation in linear (homogeneous and inhomogeneous) waveguide plane layers and cylindrical waveguides with circular cross section is of particular interest in linear optics (see, e.g., [1, 2]). In nonlinear optics, waveguides (plane and cylindrical) filled with nonlinear medium have been the focus of a number of studies [3–11]. However, many of researches are devoted to study homogeneous nonlinear waveguides [6–11].

Problems of electromagnetic wave propagation in nonlinear waveguides (plane and cylindrical) lead to nonlinear boundary and transmission eigenvalue problems for ordinary differential equations. Eigenvalues in these problems correspond to propagation constants of the waveguides. In these problems differential equations depend nonlinearly either on sought-for functions and the spectral parameter. Boundary and/or transmission conditions depend nonlinearly on the spectral parameter. The main goal is to prove existence of eigenvalues and determine their localization. Existence and localization can be derived from the dispersion equation (DE). DE is an equation with respect to spectral parameter. There are two ways to obtain the DE. The first one is to integrate the differential equations and obtain, using boundary and/or transmission conditions, the DE. This way is of very limited applicability, as it is very rarely possible to find explicit solutions of nonlinear differential equations. However, there are some problems in which this way works (see, e.g., [10, 12, 13]). The second one is a very general approach based on reduction of the differential equations to integral equations using the Green function. This approach we call integral equation approach. Here we consider this very method. Inspite of the fact that by this method the DE is found in an implicit form, it is possible to prove existence of eigenvalues and find their localization.

Electromagnetic guided waves in a cylindrical waveguide with Kerr nonlinearity are considered in [6]. It is one of the first studies, which we know about, where electromagnetic wave propagation in nonlinear medium is considered in a rigorous electromagnetic statement. Then there were a lot of researches devoted to study Kerr nonlinearity in homogeneous plane and cylindrical waveguides. For more details, about Kerr nonlinearity and homogeneous plane and cylindrical waveguides see the following references: TE guided waves in a plane layer were investigated in [12, 14], and additional results were obtained in [13]; TM guided waves in a plane layer were investigated in [15–20]; TE guided waves in a cylindrical waveguide were investigated in [21–23]; TM guided waves in a cylindrical waveguide were investigated in [24].

In most cases it is very difficult (if at all possible) to obtain exact solutions of the equations in nonlinear waveguiding problems. However, integral equation approach can help in this case [21–25]. In this approach a problem is reduced to an integral equation whose kernel depends on the Green function of the linear part of the differential equations of the problem. Two circumstances are important for the following analysis. First, in the case of a homogeneous waveguide this Green function can be found explicitly. Second, the dispersion equation of the nonlinear homogeneous case can be written as , where is a linear problem term and is an extra nonlinear term. Here the linear problem term is written in an explicit form. Moreover, the equation is well known and examined DE for the linear problem. Its roots are also known. All this allows to prove existence of the nonlinear problem solutions at least near to the linear problem solutions.

Here we investigate guided waves in a nonlinear inhomogeneous cylindrical waveguide filled with Kerr medium. The waveguide is placed in cylindrical coordinate system , where axis coincides with axis of the waveguide. Inhomogeneity is modeled by a function that depends on radius of the waveguide. The permittivity inside the waveguide is , where is the inhomogeneity, is a constant in the Kerr law, and is complex amplitude. If we have a nonlinear homogeneous waveguide. The nonconstant term dramatically changes the situation. In this case we cannot find explicitly the necessary Green function, so we investigate it in an implicit form. The dispersion equation of the nonlinear inhomogeneous case can be also written as . However, in this case the term is written in an implicit form as opposed to the case of a homogeneous waveguide, and its roots are unknown. So, at first, we prove that the equation for the linear inhomogeneous problem has roots and define localization of the roots. Then we prove that nonlinear problem has solutions.

Integral equation approach has been already used for a nonlinear inhomogeneous waveguiding problem [26]. However in study [26] authors apply integral equation approach in the way as they would solve the problem for a homogeneous waveguide. To be precise, the authors use the Green function for constant that helps them to determine the Green function in explicit form. We pay heed that there are no theoretical results (existence of eigenvalues and their localization) in [26]. We emphasize that for inhomogeneous waveguides important and general results can be obtained with the method we use in this paper in which the Green function has implicit form.

In spite of the fact that the method here looks similar to the method in [21–24], we solve radically different problem, as we consider inhomogeneous nonlinear waveguide.

2. Statement of the Problem

Let us consider three-dimensional space with cylindrical coordinate system . The space is filled by isotropic medium with constant permittivity , where is the permittivity of free space. In this medium a cylindrical waveguide is placed. The waveguide is filled by isotropic nonmagnetic medium and has cross section and its generating line (the waveguide axis) is parallel to the axis . We will consider electromagnetic waves propagating along the waveguide axis. Everywhere below is the permeability of free space.

We use Maxwell's equations in the following form [27]:

where , and . Field is the total field.

From formulae (1), we obtain

Real monochromatic field in the medium can be written in the following form:

where is circular frequency; , , , and are real required vectors.

Let us form complex amplitudes , :

It is clear that

where

and components in (6) depend on three spatial variables.

It is known (see, e.g., [3, 6, 28]) that Kerr law in isotropic medium for a monochromatic wave has the form , where is complex amplitude, is a constant part of the permittivity , is the coefficient of nonlinearity.

We obtain that in this case dependence of Maxwell's equations on is the same as in the case of constant inside the waveguide. This allows us to write Maxwell's equations (2) in the form

Complex amplitudes (4) satisfy the Maxwell equations

the continuity condition for the tangential components on the media interfaces (on the boundary of the waveguide) and the radiation condition at infinity: the electromagnetic field exponentially decays as .

The permittivity in the entire space has the form

where is a real positive value, . Here is a linear part of the permittivity.

The solutions to the Maxwell equations are sought in the entire space.

Thereby, passing from time-dependent equations (1) to time-independent equations (8) is grounded on previous consideration.

Geometry of the problem is shown in Figure 1. The waveguide is infinite along axis .

Figure 1: Geometry of the problem.

Let us consider TE waves with harmonical dependence on time

where are the complex amplitudes.

Substituting the complex amplitudes into Maxwell equations (8), we obtain

It is obvious from the first and the third equations of this system that and do not depend on . This implies that does not depend on .

Independence of the components on can be explained if we chose dependence on in the form with .

Waves propagating along waveguide axis depend harmonically on . This means that the fields components have the form

where is the unknown spectral parameter of the problem (propagation constant).

So we obtain from system (11) that

where .

Then and . From the first equation of the latter system, we obtain

Denoting by , we obtain

and , where

and .

Also we assume that function is sufficiently smooth:

Physical nature of the problem implies these conditions.

We will seek under conditions .

In the domain , we have . From (15), we obtain the equation

where . It is the Bessel equation.

In the domain , we have . From (15), we obtain the equation

where , , and .

Tangential components of electromagnetic field are known to be continuous at media interfaces. Hence we obtain

Further, we have . Since and are continuous at the point , therefore, is continuous at . These conditions imply the transmission conditions for functions and

where .

Let us formulate the transmission eigenvalue problem (problem P). It is necessary to find eigenvalues and correspond to them nonzero eigenfunctions such that satisfy (18), (19); transmission conditions (21) and the radiation condition at infinity: eigenfunctions exponentially decay as .

The general solution of (18) is taken in the following form , where and are the Hankel functions of the first and the second kinds, respectively. In accordance with the radiation condition we obtain that ; then the solution has the form , , where is a constant. If , then

as and is the Macdonald function.

The radiation condition is fulfilled since as .

3. Nonlinear Integral Equation and Dispersion Equation

Consider nonlinear equation (19) written in the form

and the linear equation

The latter equation can be written in the operator form as

(here we place index in order to stress that the operator and the Green function depend on ).

Suppose that the Green function exists for the following boundary value problem

In this case the Green function has the representation (see, e.g., [29, 30])

in the vicinity of eigenvalue . Here and is regular with respect to in the vicinity of ; , are complete orthonormal (real) eigenvalues and eigenfunctions systems of boundary eigenvalue problem

The Green function exists if .

For explicit form of the Green function is given in [21].

Let us write (19) in the operator form

Using the second Green formula [31]

and assuming that , we obtain that

From the previous formulae, we obtain

Taking into account these results and using (29), we obtain the nonlinear integral representation of solution of (19) on the segment

Using transmission conditions , we can rewrite (33)

where .

Using (34) and transmission condition , we obtain the dispersion equation (DE) with respect to the propagation constant

Let us denote by and consider integral equation (34)

in [32]. It is assumed that and .

The kernel is continuous in the square .

Let us consider linear integral operator in . It is bounded, completely continuous, and .

Since nonlinear operator is bounded and continuous in , therefore, nonlinear operator is completely continuous in any bounded set in .

The following theorems (about existence of a unique solution and continuous dependence of the solution on the parameter) can be proved in the same way as for the case of a homogeneous nonlinear cylindrical waveguide (for details of proofs, see [22, 33]).

Proposition 1. If , where

then (36) has a unique continuous solution such that , where

is a root of the equation .

Note that does not depend on .

Proposition 2. Let the kernel and the right-hand side of equation (36) depend continuously on the parameter , , on some segment of the real number axis. Let also

Then, for , a unique solution of (36) exists and depends continuously on , .

4. Iteration Method

Approximate solutions of integral equation (36) represented in the form can be found by means of the iteration process , ,

The sequence converges uniformly to solution of (36) by virtue of the fact that is a contracting operator. The estimate of the convergence rate of iteration process (40) is also known. Let us formulate these results as the following (for proof see [22]).

Proposition 3. The sequence of approximate solutions of (36), obtained by means of iteration process (40), converges in the norm of space to (unique) exact solution of this equation. The following estimate of the convergence rate is valid , where is the coefficient of contraction of mapping .

5. Theorem of Existence

Taking into account formula (22), DE (35) can be represented in the form

As it can be seen DE (41) depends on . Here is an initial condition. This is the peculiarity of this (and not only this) nonlinear problem. For the linear problem (if ), we obtain, as it is expected, the DE that does not depend on the initial condition.

From the properties of Bessel functions, it follows that

Now we can rewrite DE (41) in the following form:

where

We should note that DE (41) depends on frequency implicitly. If one obtains for chosen (radius of the inner core) such that is satisfied, then one can calculate which satisfies the propagation constants using formulae in the beginning of this section.

The zeros of the function are those values of for which a nonzero solution of the problem P exists. The following assertion gives us sufficient conditions for the existence of zeros of the function .

Let us consider the question about existence of solutions of the linear problem .

This equation can be rewritten in the form

From expression , it follows that continuously varies from to when varies from to .

As value is bounded, then there is at least one root of equation , and this root lies between and .

Finally it is necessary to prove that term does not vanish in expression . We prove this fact by contradiction. Let . Consider a Cauchy problem for equation with initial conditions as , where . From the general theory of ordinary differential equations (see, e.g., [34]) it is known that solution of considered Cauchy problem exists and is unique as . In this case, this solution coincides with function as . Function is the function, which is contained in Green's function representation (27). On the other hand, a solution of the Cauchy problem for a linear equation with zero initial condition is the trivial solution. This contradicts with representation (27) of Green's function in the vicinity of .

Consider nonlinear problem. Let inequalities

hold, where and .

We can choose sufficiently small such that the Green function exists and is continuous on , where

and the following inequality is satisfied.

It follows from the choice of that is bounded. Moreover, product can be made sufficiently small by choosing appropriate (the estimation is given at the end of this section). Let us consider DE . As it is shown before function is continuous, and reverse sign when varies from to . As function is bounded then it is clear that equation has at least roots , if we choose appropriate . Here , .

On the basis of previous consideration, we can formulate the main result of this paper.

Theorem 4. Let the values satisfy condition , and let the following inequalities hold, where is an integer. Then there is a value such that for any at least values exist such that the problem P has a nonzero solution and .

Proof. The Green function exists for all . It is also clear that function is continuous as . Let and . In accordance with Proposition 1, there is a unique solution of (36) for any . This solution is continuous and . Let . The following estimation is valid, where is a constant.

Function is continuous and equation has at least one root inside segment , that is, . Let us denote , . Value is positive and does not depend on .

If , then

As is continuous, it follows that equation has a root inside , that is . We can choose .

From Theorem 4, it follows that, under the previous assumptions, there exist axially symmetrical propagating TE waves in cylindrical dielectric waveguides of circular cross-section filled with a nonmagnetic isotropic inhomogeneous medium with Kerr nonlinearity. This result generalizes the well-known similar statement for dielectric waveguides of circular cross-section filled with a linear medium (i.e., ).

It should be noticed that the value can be effectively estimated.

6. Conclusion

In this study, we suggest and develop a method to investigate the problem of existence of electromagnetic waves that propagate along axis of an inhomogeneous nonlinear cylindrical waveguide. The nonlinearity inside the waveguide is described by the Kerr law; the inhomogeneity is described by a function that depends on radius of the waveguide.

Here we show that the integral equation approach allows us to investigate quite general problem for nonlinear inhomogeneous waveguides.

We should say that this method can be used to prove existence of guided waves in a nonlinear inhomogeneous waveguide for TM waves.

Numerical results can be obtained with the help of iteration procedure from Section 4.

A separate paper will be devoted to development of a couple of numerical methods for this problem.

Acknowledgments

This work is partially supported by the RFBR (Grants nos. 11-07-00330-A, 12-07-97010-R A), the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Grant no. 14.B37.21.1950).

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