Pulse propagation and transients in dielectric guide

By considering the full spectrum of asymmetric dielectric slab waveguides in the frequency and time domains, we show how pulse propagation along the guide, including radiation effects, i.e. spatial transients, can be modelled rigorously and analytically on a desktop computer. This method is both more accurate and efficient than making recourse to a large numerical simulator. We report the practical example of the response of the guide to a gaussian beam excitation that is pulsed in time and modulated by a cosine waveform.