Analysis of propagation characteristics of whispering gallery modes in a dielectric disk or a curved rectangular dielectric waveguide

The finite-element method is applied to the analysis of whispering gallery modes in curved optical waveguides. Numerical examples for whispering gallery modes in a dielectric disk with rough boundaries are given. It is demonstrated that the whispering gallery modes and the normal guided modes in a curved rectangular dielectric waveguide are analyzed consistently with this approach, and that the normal guided mode approaches the whispering gallery mode with the increase of waveguide width. The minimum width of the rectangular waveguide needed to support a whispering gallery mode is evaluated.<
>