The University of British Columbia

Feasibility of a new integrated waveguide amplitude modulator/switch with more than 100GHz bandwidth in the visible and IR spectrum, based on the absorption of light due to linear interaction of the incident laser and a two-dimensional plasma layer has recently been demonstrated(1). Plasma layers were generated via Muller's effect at the waveguide's interfaces. In this article, properties of the charge layers are investigated using quantum mechanics. First, the density of states and unperturbed energy eigenvalues are calculated. Then electron wave functions are obtained using the solution of Shrodinger's equation in the presence of an external applied electrostatic field in the structure. In the next step, energy eigenvalues are estimated by means of a perturbation technique. The electron density in the interfaces and the effective thickness of the charge layers are obtained using the calculated wave functions. The reflection problem is treated classically by direct solution of Maxwell's equations(1).