Benchmarking five numerical simulation techniques for computing resonance wavelengths and quality factors in photonic crystal membrane line defect cavities.

We present numerical studies of two photonic crystal membrane microcavities, a short line-defect cavity with a relatively low quality (Q) factor and a longer cavity with a high Q. We use five state-of-the-art numerical simulation techniques to compute the cavity Q factor and the resonance wavelength λ for the fundamental cavity mode in both structures. For each method, the relevant computational parameters are systematically varied to estimate the computational uncertainty.