Observation of amplitude and phase in ridge and photonic crystal waveguides operating at 1.55 <i>μ</i>m by use of heterodyne scanning near-field optical microscopy

We apply heterodyne scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) to observe with subwavelength resolution the amplitude and phase of optical fields propagating in several microfabricated waveguide devices operating around the 1.55 μm wavelength. Good agreement between the SNOM measurements and predicted optical mode propagation characteristics in standard ridge waveguides demonstrates the validity of the method. In situ observation of the subwavelength-scale distribution and propagation of optical fields in straight and 90° bend photonic crystal waveguides facilitates a more detailed understanding of the optical performance characteristics of these devices and illustrates the usefulness of the technique for investigating nanostructured photonic devices.