Case studies of simulations with Photon Design software
You can click on each theme below to display some case studies.
Please note that this list is far from exhaustive. If you do not find what you are looking for please do not hesitate to give us a call to discuss your requirements!
FIMMPROP is probably the most widely used propagation tool
for the modelling of silicon photonics: rigorous (no slowly varying
approximation), fully vectorial, offering wide angle capability and very
high design flexibility. The examples below are a selection of
applications focusing on silicon photonics.
FIMMPROP's 3D taper algorithm makes it the
most versatile implementation of EME, whether it is to simulate a mode
size-converting taper or the coupling region and
spectral response of an SOI ring resonator.
Find the modes of arbitrary bent waveguides and calculate associated
bend losses with FIMMWAVE. Model non-circular bends and insertion losses
with FIMMPROP.
FIMMWAVE supports a large number of
complementary
mode solvers, which allows it to solve a large variety of waveguides which
may be made of any material and of almost any geometry. FIMMWAVE allows
you to find the modes, calculate mode size, dispersion, single mode conditions
and perform arbitrary parameter scans.
Please see also Optical Fibers for mode solving and
propagation in optical fibres.
A selection of photonic circuits with active components (SOAs or lasers) simulated with PICWave. Its time-domain engine will allow you to simulate all the dynamics of the circuit!
A PICWave building block is a sub-circuit (a laser or MZI, for example) which can be used and re-used as an element in any other circuit. PICWave allows you to create your own libraries of building blocks,
which can include parameterised FIMMPROP component models.
We currently supply various design kit libraries for different fabs.
FIMMWAVE/FIMMPROP is probably the most widely used propagation tool
for the modelling of silicon photonics: rigorous (no slowly varying
approximation), fully vectorial, offering wide angle capability and very
high design flexibility. The examples below are a selection of
applications focusing on silicon photonics.
Silicon photonic circuits and hybrid
III-V/SOI lasers
PICWave and Harold can be used to model a variety of active silicon devices,
from hybrid silicon/III-V lasers to QCSE modulators. PICWave can also be used to
model active and passive PICs based on silicon or other platforms.
PICWave and Harold offer a highly effective combination for modelling
active devices: Harold allows you to simulate the physics of the
hetero-structure, and PICWave can include this model into a larger circuit,
allowing you to model any type of laser geometry.
FIMMPROP is an ideal tool for modelling the passive optical properties of
VCSELs e.g. detecting the resonant wavelengths, the field and mode distribution
of the cavity modes and the losses. The VCSELs can be cylindrically symmetric or
arbitrary in shape and FIMMPROP can model optical external feedback e.g. VCSELs
laterally coupled to slow light waveguides.
You can use our
Active FDTD tool for modelling laser structures with unusual laser
geometries, for instance laser nano-rods or photonic crystal lasers.
FIMMWAVE and FIMMPROP can design a large variety of fiber components,
allowing you to calculate the modes of the fibres and their dispersion, or
modelling propagation through complex fibre-based devices.
PICWave is a powerful tool for modelling Fibre Bragg Gratings, which will allow you to
model the effect of dispersion, apodisation and chirp. You can also model
periodic FBGs with FIMMPROP.
You can use can use FIMMWAVE and FIMMPROP to model multi-core fibres,
including cross-talk modelling in straight and bent MCFs, or simulating their
performance as power splitters.
OmniSim's Surface Grating Coupler Design Utility allows you to
design and optimise surface grating couplers (chip to fiber couplers) automatically, in both 2D
and 3D. You can also use FIMMPROP to model design and simulate surface
grating couplers in 2D.
Modelling light coupling from a fibre facet to a waveguide facet across a
gap or via a lensed waveguide can be done within a few minutes with FIMMPROP.
Metamaterials
You can model metamaterials using a combination of OmniSim's
RCWA and
FETD engines,
both of which allow you to inject light into an infinitely
periodic structure using arbitrary orientation.
Micro-cavities can be modelled in various ways depending on their
geometry. Short cavities can be modelled with OmniSim and CrystalWave's FDTD and
FETD, whilst very long waveguide cavities can be modelled in FIMMPROP.
There are many different ways of modelling micro-ring or micro-disk
resonators: small resonators can be modelled with OmniSim's FDTD and FETD
engines, whilst large resonators are best modelled using a combination of
FIMMPROP's EME tool and PICWave's circuit model.
FIMMPROP offers
two complementary approaches (RCMT and EME) for
modelling optical gratings and periodic structures such as Bragg gratings,
polarisation rotators or even twisted fibre couplers.
FIMMPROP's approach is particularly powerful when modelling long gratings, where
FDTD or finite-element methods would be highly inefficient.
OmniSim's Surface Grating Coupler Design Utility allows you to
design and optimise surface grating couplers (chip to fiber couplers) automatically, in both 2D
and 3D. You can also use FIMMPROP to model design and simulate surface
grating couplers in 2D.
Provide PICWave with the Kappa coefficients for your grating to include
complex apodised and chirped gratings (including DBRs and FBGs) into your
circuit or laser diode model.
Anti-reflection (AR) coatings and Thin Film Filters
FIMMPROP's unique combination of EME and PWE algorithms can be used to
model the effect of AR coatings and thin film filters on the actual modes of the
adjacent waveguides.
OmniSim can be used to model diffractive optics thanks to its various Maxwell solvers:
FETD,
FDTD,
RCWA and
FEFD. RCWA
and FETD can be used to model infinitely periodic gratings in 2D and 3D with
oblique incidence, and the combination of FDTD and FETD is ideal for modelling
aperiodic structures.
PICWave’s
travelling wave electrode model allows the simulation of electrical signal propagation along electrodes and the resulting effects on electrical-optical interaction in active components.
PICWave can be used to model nonlinear effects in active devices within
large optical circuits, allowing you for instance to characterise the effect of
four-wave mixing on the response.
PICWave can be used for the design and simulation of periodically-poled nonlinear sections (e.g. periodically-poled lithium niobate
- PPLN) for second harmonic generation, phase sensitive amplification and
wavelength conversion.
