Near-field modal microscopy of subwavelength light confinement in multimode silicon slot waveguides

Silicon-on-insulator slot waveguides are studied by scanning near-field optical microscopy. Images of the standing wave pattern were established experimentally and compared with numerical simulations. Fourier analysis along the propagation direction reveals noticeable frequencies both on the experiment and the computation that could be related not only to the guided mode but also to beating phenomena between the coupled waveguides. Finally, light confinement above the slot is directly visualized with a subwavelength resolution and is compared with the expected field distribution.