Theoretical and experimental study of opposite lateral shifts and polarization beam splitting on symmetrical metal-cladding waveguides

Simultaneously opposite lateral shifts and polarization beam splitting are demonstrated theoretically and experimentally when reflection occurs on a symmetrical metal-cladding waveguide (SMCW). It was investigated that, at large incident angle, TE and TM polarized incident beams experience opposite lateral shifts simultaneously, which can be enhanced to hundreds of micrometers. This is due to the strong mode dispersion on the SMCW when the low order mode is excited. Experimental results have demonstrated the above theoretical results obtained by using the stationary phase method and the Gaussian beam model. This phenomenon has potential applications in optical devices.