How to distinguish TE and TM

[niubiworker]

I did not find any discussion or guidance on how to distinguish TE and TM in the relevant documents, but I believe this is very important. Can anyone help me distinguish TE and TM of light sources in simulation

[stevengj]

This is simply set by the polarization of the current source. (There are also options for eigenmode sources to set the symmetry (hence polarization) of the modes.)

Just beware that what people mean by "TE" and "TM" polarizations vary in the literature. In 2d, I tend to use "Ez polarization" and "Hz polarization" these days to be less ambiguous. People also talk about "s" and "p" polarization for planewaves with electric field perpendicular to or lying within the plane of incidence, respectively (corresponding to Ez and Hz in 2d).