Efficient analysis of nano-photonic coupled resonator devices using coupled mode theory

Nanophotonic technologies may open up to new paths to optoelectronic integration. Coupled resonator photonic crystal devices may find important applications in both the linear and the non-linear regime. These devices are well suited for coupling of mode analysis, which usually requires much less computational resources compared Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) schemes. Coupled mode models also provide a useful physical insight in the device operation. In this paper, we present a general coupled mode theoretic model for the treatment of coupled cavity devices incorporating various phenomena such as dispersion, frequency variation of the coupling coefficients, non-adjacent cavity coupling and waveguide mode self coupling. The model is validated comparing its results against the FDTD method and the strength of the underlying assumptions is validated.