Comprehensive microcavity laser models should account for several physical mechanisms, e.g. carrier
transport, heating and optical confinement, coupled by non-linear effects. Nevertheless, considerable
useful information can still be obtained if all non-electromagnetic effects are neglected, often within
an additional effective-index reduction to an equivalent 2D problem, and the optical modes viewed as
solutions of Maxwell's equations. Integral equation (IE) formulations have many advantages over
numerical techniques such as FDTD for the study of such microcavity laser problems. The most
notable advantages of an IE approach are computational efficiency, the correct description of cavity
boundaries without stair-step errors, and the direct solution of an eigenvalue problem rather than the
spectral analysis of a transient signal. Boundary IE (BIE) formulations are more economic that
volume IE (VIE) ones, because of their lower dimensionality, but they are only applicable to the
constant cavity refractive index case. The Muller BIE, being free of 'defect' frequencies and having
smooth or integrable kernels, provides a reliable tool for the modal analysis of microcavities. Whilst
such an approach can readily identify complex-valued natural frequencies and Q-factors, the lasing
condition is not addressed directly. We have thus suggested using a Muller BIE approach to solve a
lasing eigenvalue problem (LEP), i.e. a linear eigenvalue solution in the form of two real-valued
numbers (lasing wavelength and threshold information) when macroscopic gain is introduced into the
cavity material within an active region. Such an approach yields clear insight into the lasing thresholds
of individual cavities with uniform and non-uniform gain, cavities coupled as photonic molecules and
cavities equipped with one or more quantum dots.
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