Effect of volume defects on the performance of planar waveguide devices

The effect of volume defects (e.g., dust particles and air bubbles) on the performance of planar waveguide devices is analyzed based on Green's tensor technology. This fast method contributes to a deep physical insight into the influence of volume defects on the loss of planar waveguide devices. The results have shown that volume defects with some special shapes and indexes can produce strong resonances with the incident light and large loss is induced, which indicates that some special volume defects should be avoided in the process of fabrication.