Volume 13, number 3 OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS March 1975

A NEW METHOD FOR MEASURING REFRACTIVE INDEX AND THICKNESS

OF LIQUID AND DEPOSITED SOLID THIN FILMS *

R.Th. KERSTEN
Research Laboratories of Siemens A G, Munich, West-Germany

Received 4 January 1975

We discuss theoretically a new method to determine the refractive index and the thickness of thin films using them as
leaky waveguides. It is shown that the refractive index and the thickness can be determined easily by measuring the propa-
gation constants of two leaky modes of this waveguideby means of synchronous angles. Experimentally we measured the
refractive index of 1-bromonaphthalene and methylene iodide. This method is not restricted to special liquid and solid ma-
terials.

1. Introduction 2. The leakage occurs only at the (1,3) boundary:

For integrated optical circuits both evaporated and n 0 < n 1.

sputtered thin dielectric films are used as optical wave- Both types of these leaky waveguides are discussed at
guides. Commonly the light is fed into the waveguides length in ref. [4] (see also the references given there).
by means of prism-film couplers [1,2] and grating A versatile equation for the propagation constant ~m
couplers [3,4]. By measuring the synchronous angles for a leaky wave of order m is (23) in ref. [4]
[ 1] of the modes of the optical waveguide, the refrac-
zr2 (m + 1)2~k,/
tive index and the thickness of the waveguide material
can be calculated by a numerical procedure [5,6].
~m = ( n l El 1(kheq)2] (1)
In those special cases, where the thin film does not
act as a totally refracting waveguide (for example low-
index liquid films [7,8] or solid dielectric films on high
l
index substrates), it can be used as a thin film leaky
waveguide. ~,~f PRISM
/J~ COUPLING
x POINT

2. Leaky waveguides POLARIZED A

~r" ncuT \ J \ " REFLECTEDBEAM
IIlu,uLIl~ G2
BEAM J .~ ~ ' ~ ..... ~ /(OBSERVATIONOF m-LINES)
Fig. 1 shows a typical setup of a leaky waveguide.
We had to distinguish between two cases of leaky wave-
guides assuming n 3 > n I (fig. 1).
=
h / .... nl " ' 1 ~ LEAKYWAVE..~" WAVEGUIDE
1. The leakage is on both sides of the waveguide:

n0 ) Jt1 ; '
[ no
t SUBSTRATE

* This work has been supported by the technological program Fig. 1. Setup of a leaky waveguide and the coupling to it;
of the Federal Department of Research and Technology of n a > n l and n o < nl: one sided leaky waveguide; n3 > n l or
the FRG. The author alone is responsible for the contents. n o > nl: both sided leaky waveguide.

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Volume 13, number 3 OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS March 1975

where h = waveguide thickness, k = 27r/X propagation 4. Experiments

constant of light in vacuum, X = vacuum wavelength,
Because we have to measure angles very accurately
ifn 1 < n 0 (case 1): (all important parameters can be determined by angle
kh eq kh, = (2a) measurements) the essential point of our measurement
apparatus is a high-precision goniometer (Askania*,
ifn 1 > n 0 (case 2): type 27 E) with a resolution better than 1 sec. On the
rigid arm of this goniometer a ! t e - H e laser is mounted
kheq = kh + (qo/ql)(n~ - 110)-1/2, (2b) on the movable arm an autocollimation telescope
(Micro Controle**, type LC 160) is fixed. All measure-
qi = I 1t2" for TM modes: ments are done at a wavelength X = 632.8 nm. We use
90°-prisms to couple simultaneously light into and out
I 1, for TE modes. of the waveguide and measure the synchronous angles
We only want to investigate the waveguide leaky on corresponding to the m-lines observable in the reflected
both sides (caSe 1). The waveguide-type leaky on one beam (fig. 1).
side can be treated in a similar way. For our experiments we only use liquid thin films
because they can be fabricated very easily. Besides we
were also interested in the refractive indices of these
3. Measuring procedure liquids which we often use as immersion liquid.
We take two rutile prisms (refractive index =
Using the experimental setup shown in fig. 1 we 2.582 86 for TM-polarization), putting a liquid between
can excite a leaky mode of order m and with propaga- the two hypotenuses and press them together so that
tion constant fl,n by shining a laser beam into the prism, the thin liquid film can act as a leaky waveguide. We
so that the angle c~2 is a synchronous angle and use two different liquids (1-bromonaphthalene, me-
thylene iodide) for the measurements, the results and
/ sin o~2]
the parameters are listed in table 1. The errors Al3/k,
gn = n 3ksin~e 3 +arcsin ~t3- / (3)
Atz I and Ah are calculated with respect to the formalism
is valid. In this case we can see the dark m-line [1] of given in ref. [91.
the leaky mode in the reflected beam (fig. 1). To de-
termine the refractive index and the thickness of a
thin leaky waveguide we have to measure two different 5. Conclusions
propagation constants ~m and ~i by way of the syn-
chronous angles. Eliminating kh from (1) and (2) for The 13/k-values computed in table 1 are also given
the two propagation constants/3 m and/3 i we obtain using eq. (1). For the calculation we take the experi-
mental values listed on the right-hand side of the table.
(m + 1)2({3i/k) - (i + 1)2(tim~k) We have demonstrated a new method to measure the
..... (4) refractive indices of liquid and deposited solid thin
H1 ( m + 1) 2 - ( i + l) 2
films by using them as leaky waveguides. In any case
The thickness h of the leaky waveguide can be calcu- the refractive indices of liquids are smaller than those
lated with (1) of some solid dielectric material (e.g. rutile). Therefore
this method is not restricted to some special liquid.
tt = X(m + 1 ) (5) Also for solid dielectrics the sub- and superstrates can
2 2x/~1x/nl - (fl,n/k) be chosen properly so that we get a leaky waveguide.
Sometimes the measurement of the thin film thickness Because the light must not be guided for a large way in
is less important, but by measuring it at several differ- the leaky waveguide, we can also measure highly absorb-
ent coupling points (fig. 1) along the prism base we can
* Berlin, Germany.
determine the profile of the prism base and the sub-
strate surface. ** France.

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Volume 13, number 3 OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS March 1975

Table 1 ing materials. T h e m e t h o d , its accuracy and o t h e r ex-

Measurements on waveguides leaky on both sides at a tempera- p e r i m e n t s will be given in m o r e detail in ref. [9].
ture of 24°C and TM polarization

n o = n 3 = 2.582 86 -+ 10-s, e3 = (45.007 -+ 1.4 × 10-3)deg,

waveguide material: 1-bromonaphthalene. References

m ~3/k nI h
(urn) [1] P.K. Tien, R. Ulrich, R.J. Matin, Appl. Phys. Lett. 14
measured calculated (1969) 291-294.
[2] R. Ulrich, P.K. Tien, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60 (1970) 1325-
1337.
0 1.6484-+2.7-10 -4 1.6499 1.6499-+4.5.10..4 4.4+-0.2 [3] A. Kogelnik, T.P. Sosnowski, Bell Syst. Techn. J. 49
1 1.6436-+2.7-10-4 1.6436 (1970) 1602-1608.
[4] D.G. Dalgoutte, Opt. Commun. 8 (1973) 124-127.
[5] R. Ulrich, R. Torge, Appl. Opt. 12 (1973) 2901-2908.
n o = n 3 = 2.582 86 -+ 10-5, e3 = 45.007 deg, waveguide material: [6] R.Th. Kersten, Opt. Commun. 9 (1973) 427-431.
methylene iodide. [7] G. Zeidler, AEU 26 (1972) 533-536.
m [3/k n I h [8] G. Zeidler, Moden in organischen Farbstofflasern, Doc-
(urn) toral thesis, Graz (Austria) 1971.
measured calculated [9] R.Th. Kersten, to be published in Optica Acta.

0 1.7297-+2.7.10 -4 1.7297 1.7301-+4.5.10-4 8.5-+1

1 1.7284-+2.7.10 -4 1.7285

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