Two Complementary Approaches to Determine the Effective Index of Dielectric Ring Resonators

Open-source finite-element frameworks for modal analysis of dielectric ring resonators are presented based on two complementary approaches.

The first computes resonant wavelengths for discrete azimuthal mode numbers and obtains the effective index at a target wavelength by interpolation; the second solves directly for the azimuthal mode number at a prescribed wavelength via a quadratic eigenvalue formulation.

Both approaches are validated against a commercial electromagnetic mode solver and yield nearly identical effective indices and dispersion curves.

The fixed-mode-number approach requires slightly longer computation time but uses half as much memory, making it the preferred choice for memory-limited computers.