Computer Simulation of Integrated Optics for the Analysis and Design of Advanced Devices

自从20世纪60年代早期激光器的出现及其与半导体衬底的集成以来， 传统的电子技术已经被光学设备所增强;未来将看到它们中的许多被取代。这些新的光电器件是通过各种创新概念、材料和设计实现的，这些创新概念、材料和设计需要前所未有的技术复杂性。单片集成通过在类似IC的衬底上包括波导路由、光栅耦合器、3-D谐振器和衍射光学器件，大大简化了该过程。数字处理器技术是光学增强的自然目标。然而，随着这些设备的成熟，传统的实验和分析正在接近有效性的实际极限。使用有限元/有限差分法进行全面的2-D和3-D计算机建模是一种可行的替代方法。这种建模将为用户带来竞争优势，并成为新型创新设备的催化剂。在Weidlinger Associates，Inc.的第一阶段，将开发一个全面的有限元/有限差分仿真系统，用于求解集成光电子器件中的麦克斯韦方程。这将基于他们现有的电磁解算器EMFlex。第一阶段的迫切需要是路由波导、光栅耦合器、锥形、反射镜和衍射光学器件的传播模型，而不是有源器件或非线性模型。他们的目标是立即将这些代码交给设计师和实验人员。

Since the advent of lasers in the early 1960s and their integration into semiconductor substrates Weidlinger Associates, Inc., has seen traditional electronic technologies augmented by optical devices; the future will see many of them supplanted. These new optoelectronic devices are made possible by a variety of innovative concepts, materials, and designs requiring unprecedented technical sophistication. Monolithic integration has simplified the process considerably, by including waveguide routing, grating couplers, 3-D resonators, and diffractive optics on an IC-like substrate. Digital processor technology is a natural target for optical augmentation. However, as these devices mature, conventional experiments and analyses are approaching practical limits of effectiveness. Comprehensive 2-D and 3-D computer modeling using finite element/finite difference methods is a viable alternative. Such modeling will confer a competitive advantage to users and act as a catalyst for new classes of innovative devices. In Phase I Weidlinger Associates, Inc., will develop a comprehensive finite element/finite difference simulation system to solve Maxwell's equations in integrated optoelectronic devices. This will be based on their existing electromagnetic solver, EMFlex. The immediate need in Phase I appears to be propagation models for routed waveguides, grating couplers, tapers, mirrors, and diffractive optics, rather than active devices or nonlinear models. Their objective is to put this code in the hands of designers and experimentalists immediately.