Hollow metallic waveguides in silicon V-grooves

Hollow waveguides with metal walls in silicon v-grooves have been fabricated. The propagation of light at wavelengths of 633 nm, 780 nm, 980 nm, and 1310 nm has been studied. It has been found that the intensity decays according to an inverse linear law rather than an exponential law. The equivalent losses in dB/cm are in the range of 1 to 6 over a distance of 1.5 cm. Numerical simulations that include a realistic index of refraction for the metal walls have been carried out, and the inverse linear intensity law is verified for Gaussian beams. Polarization effects due to the triangular geometry are also observed.<
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