Planar corner-cut square microcavities: ray optics and FDTD analysis

We analyze corner-cut square microcavities as alternative planar microcavities. Ray tracing shows open-ray orbits that are 90degrees-rotated can oscillate between each other upon reflections at the 45degrees corner-cut facets, and have the same sense of circulation. Our two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulations suggest that a waveguide-coupled corner-cut square microcavity with an optimum cut size supports traveling-wave resonances with desirable add-drop filter responses. The mode-field pattern evolutions confirm the concept of modal oscillations. By applying Fourier transform on the mode-field patterns, we analyze the modal composition in k-space. The add-drop filter responses can be optimized by fine-tuning the waveguide width. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.