Numerical simulations of 3D micro-resonators

Micro-resonators are critical optical components that have many exciting applications in fields such as telecommunications, quantum cryptography and optical signal processing. Fabrication techniques allow many different designs of micro-resonator to be realised, but at present their optimisation and simulation remain firmly entrenched in 2D. The geometrical complexity of many micro-resonators mitigates against analytic study. Thus there is a strong demand for comprehensive 3D numerical simulations. We discuss some of the difficulties and challenges when modelling micro-resonators and recent progress towards their 3D modelling using time-domain codes.