Numerical Investigation of Photonic Crystal Microcavities in Silicon-on-Insulator Waveguides

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates optical resonances in silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal microcavities, analyzing how nanometer-scale geometry variations affect their performance and identifying factors limiting ultra-high Q-factors.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical approach to study photonic crystal microcavities and assesses the impact of fabrication variations on their resonant properties.

Findings

Validated numerical results against experimental data

Identified key factors limiting Q-factor performance

Analyzed effects of nanometer-scale geometry variations

Abstract

Optical resonances in 1D photonic crystal microcavities are investigated numerically using finite-element light scattering and eigenmode solvers. The results are validated by comparison to experimental and theoretical findings from the literature. The influence of nanometer-scale geometry variations on the resonator performance is studied. Limiting factors to ultra-high Q-factor performance are identified.