Simple estimation of transition losses in bends of wide optical waveguides by a ray tracing method

Numerical simulation methods based on modal theory are not suitable for wide waveguides where the number of guided modes increases greatly. A simple ray tracing method for treating this situations is proposed, and its results are validated with experimental measurements of fabricated waveguides. The important agreement between theory and experiments makes this method an easy way to design bent waveguides with transitions between sections with different curvature.