Jakob Rosenkrantz de Lasson

Calculation, normalization, and perturbation of quasinormal modes in coupled cavity-waveguide systems

We show how one can use a nonlocal boundary condition, which is compatible with standard frequency domain methods, for numerical calculation of quasinormal modes in optical cavities coupled to waveguides. In addition, we extend the definition of the quasinormal mode norm by use of the theory of divergent series to provide a framework for modeling of optical phenomena in such coupled cavity-waveguide systems. As example applications, we calculate the Purcell factor and study perturbative changes in the complex resonance frequency of a photonic crystal cavity coupled to a defect waveguide.

Three-dimensional integral equation approach to light scattering, extinction cross sections, local density of states, and quasi-normal modes

We present a numerical formalism for solving the Lippmann–Schwinger equation for the electric field in three dimensions. The formalism may be applied to scatterers of different shapes and embedded in different background media, and we develop it in detail for the specific case of spherical scatterers in a homogeneous background medium. In addition, we show how several physically important quantities may readily be calculated with the formalism. These quantities include the extinction cross section, the total Green’s tensor, the projected local density of states, and the Purcell factor as well as the quasi-normal modes of leaky resonators with the associated resonance frequencies and quality factors. We demonstrate the calculations for the well-known plasmonic dimer consisting of two silver nanoparticles and thus illustrate the versatility of the formalism for use in modeling of advanced nanophotonic devices.

Roundtrip matrix method for calculating the leaky resonant modes of open nanophotonic structures

We present a numerical method for calculating quasi-normal modes of open nanophotonic structures. The method is based on scattering matrices and a unity eigenvalue of the roundtrip matrix of an internal cavity, and we develop it in detail with electromagnetic fields expanded on Bloch modes of periodic structures. This procedure is simpler to implement numerically and more intuitive than previous scattering matrix methods, and any routine based on scattering matrices can benefit from the method. We demonstrate the calculation of quasi-normal modes for two-dimensional photonic crystals where cavities are side-coupled and in-line-coupled to an infinite W1 waveguide, and we show that the scattering spectrum of these types of cavities can be reconstructed from the complex quasi-normal mode frequency.

Open geometry Fourier modal method: Modeling nanophotonic structures in infinite domains

We present an open-geometry Fourier modal method based on a new combination of open boundary conditions and an efficient k-space discretization. The open boundary of the computational domain is obtained using basis functions that expand the whole space, and the integrals subsequently appearing due to the continuous nature of the radiation modes are handled using a discretization based on nonuniform sampling of the k space. We apply the method to a variety of photonic structures and demonstrate that our method leads to significantly improved convergence with respect to the number of degrees of freedom, which may pave the way for more accurate and efficient modeling of open nanophotonic structures.

On the Theory of Coupled Modes in Optical Cavity-Waveguide Structures

Light propagation in systems of optical cavities coupled to waveguides can be conveniently described by a general rate equation model known as (temporal) coupled mode theory (CMT). We present an alternative derivation of the CMT for optical cavity-waveguide structures, which explicitly relies on the treatment of the cavity modes as quasi-normal modes with properties that are distinctly different from those of the modes in the waveguides. The two families of modes are coupled via the field equivalence principle to provide a physically appealing yet surprisingly accurate description of light propagation in the coupled systems. Practical application of the theory is illustrated using example calculations in one and two dimensions.

Semianalytical quasi-normal mode theory for the local density of states in coupled photonic crystal cavity-waveguide structures.

We investigate the parity of transmission spectra in a photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide with a side-coupled cavity and a partially blocking element. We demonstrate, by means of numerical calculations, that by varying the cavity-block distance the spectra vary from being asymmetric with blue parity, to being symmetric (Lorentzian), to being asymmetric with red parity. For cavity-block distances larger than five PhC lattice constants, we show that the transmission spectrum is accurately described as the transmission spectrum of a Fabry-Perot etalon with a single propagating Bloch mode, and that the parity of the transmission spectrum correlates with the Fabry-Perot roundtrip phase.We present and validate a semianalytical quasi-normal mode (QNM) theory for the local density of states (LDOS) in coupled photonic crystal (PhC) cavity-waveguide structures. By means of an expansion of the Greens function on one or a few QNMs, a closed-form expression for the LDOS is obtained, and for two types of two-dimensional PhCs, with one and two cavities side-coupled to an extended waveguide, the theory is validated against numerically exact computations. For the single cavity, a slightly asymmetric spectrum is found, which the QNM theory reproduces, and for two cavities, a nontrivial spectrum with a peak and a dip is found, which is reproduced only when including both the two relevant QNMs in the theory. In both cases, we find relative errors below 1% in the bandwidth of interest.

Spectral symmetry of Fano resonances in a waveguide coupled to a microcavity

We investigate the symmetry of transmission spectra in a photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide with a side-coupled cavity and a partially transmitting element (PTE). We demonstrate, through numerical calculations, that by varying the cavity-PTE distance the spectra vary from being asymmetric with the minimum blueshifted relative to the maximum, to being symmetric (Lorentzian), to being asymmetric with the minimum redshifted relative to the maximum. For cavity-PTE distances larger than five PhC lattice constants, we show that the transmission spectrum is accurately described as the transmission spectrum of a Fabry-Perot etalon with a single propagating Bloch mode and that the symmetry of the transmission spectrum correlates with the Fabry-Perot round-trip phase.

Modeling of cavities using the analytic modal method and an open geometry formalism

We present an eigenmode expansion technique for calculating the properties of a dipole emitter inside a micropillar. We consider a solution domain of infinite extent, implying no outer boundary conditions for the electric field, and expand the field on analytic eigenmodes. In contrast to finite-sized simulation domains, this avoids the issue of parasitic reflections from artificial boundaries. We compute the Purcell factor in a two-dimensional micropillar and explore two discretization techniques for the continuous radiation modes. Specifically, an equidistant and a nonequidistant discretization are employed, and while both converge, only the nonequidistant discretization exhibits uniform convergence. These results demonstrate that the method leads to more accurate results than existing simulation techniques and constitutes a promising basis for further work.

Benchmarking five numerical simulation techniques for computing resonance wavelengths and quality factors in photonic crystal membrane line defect cavities

We present numerical studies of two photonic crystal membrane microcavities, a short line-defect cavity with a relatively low quality (Q) factor and a longer cavity with a high Q. We use five state-of-the-art numerical simulation techniques to compute the cavity Q factor and the resonance wavelength λ for the fundamental cavity mode in both structures. For each method, the relevant computational parameters are systematically varied to estimate the computational uncertainty. We show that some methods are more suitable than others for treating these challenging geometries.

Impact of slow-light enhancement on optical propagation in active semiconductor photonic-crystal waveguides

We derive and validate a set of coupled Bloch wave equations for analyzing the reflection and transmission properties of active semiconductor photonic-crystal waveguides. In such devices, slow-light propagation can be used to enhance the material gain per unit length, enabling, for example, the realization of short optical amplifiers compatible with photonic integration. The coupled-wave analysis is compared to numerical approaches based on the Fourier modal method and a frequency domain finite-element technique. The presence of material gain leads to the buildup of a backscattered field, which is interpreted as distributed feedback effects or reflection at passive-active interfaces, depending on the approach taken. For very large material gain values, the band structure of the waveguide is perturbed, and deviations from the simple coupled Bloch wave model are found.