Film mode matching: a versatile numerical method for vector mode field calculations in dielectric waveguides

The old film mode matching or transverse resonance method for calculating mode fields in dielectric waveguides is given a new formulation that makes it an efficient, accurate, and general numerical method, ready to exploit standard computer libraries for numerical linear algebra. Both the scalar and the vector field cases are treated for a rather general class of waveguide cross sections, where the method (like the method of lines) is more accurate and more efficient than sophisticated finite-element and finite-difference methods.