Abstract

In the past bent channel waveguides have been modeled with the effective index approximation and the scalar wave equation in the large radius limit [1] as well as using a semivector formulation [2]. Unfortunately, these approaches have obtained limited success. In most cases only qualitative results can be extracted from these models when studying curved channel waveguides. Therefore, more sophisticated numerical techniques are required to predict the quantitative behavior of bent channel waveguides in several, more complicated applications where the vectorial nature of the field may play a role. Examples of some of these applications are semiconductor and polymer ring and microdisk lasers [3,4].

© 1996 Optical Society of America