Optical waveguide

摘要

An optical system (22) contains an optical waveguide (10) having cladding layers (11, 12) defining a channel (19) that is filled with an optically conductive core material (20). The index of refraction of the optically conductive core material (20) is greater than the index of refraction of the cladding layers (11, 12) to maintain total internal reflection of an input light beam (39). The channel (19) is tapered at an angle (32) to increase beam divergence of the input light beam (39). The beam divergence is increased while the input light beam (39) is reflected through the optically conductive core material (20) from an opening (26) to an exit (27) of the channel (19). The taper of the channel (19) maintains an adiabatic characteristic for the waveguide (10).