Lumerical finite-element FEEM software improves design and characterization of photonic components
Photonic simulation software developer Lumerical (Vancouver, BC, Canada) has added a new finite element eigenmode solver (FEEM) to DEVICE, its multiphysics photonics design platform. Lumerical says that combined with its optical simulator software--FDTD Solutions and MODE Solutions, the FEEM addition offers an integrated photonics simulation suite, specifically designed for the characterization and optimization of photonic components.
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With the addition of FEEM into DEVICE, designers are now able to analyze optical, electrical, and thermal effects within a single modeling environment. The resulting single-model approach minimizes time-to-results for complex active devices, such as electrooptic and thermooptic modulators, and opens a reliable path to know-how reuse, deep design automation, and first-time-right development.
"We are excited about the native mode analysis functionality that the new FEEM solver will add to DEVICE. The ability to fully simulate electro-optical behaviors of active photonic components within a single physical model is key to reducing our design cycle time and possible errors," said Ashkan Seyedi, research scientist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
Thanks to its material-adaptive finite element mesh and higher order mesh polynomials, the new FEEM solver gives designers superior accuracy and performance scaling, even when complex geometries or material properties are at play. This flexibility makes the solver ideal for traditional integrated photonics components, such as SOI waveguides and modulators, as well as more challenging applications like photonic crystal fibers and GRINs. FEEM supports custom-defined index perturbations, generated by electrical and thermal phenomena, and fully integrates with DEVICE’s charge and heat transport solvers, making the investigation of multiphysics effects easier than ever. Combining DEVICE’s capabilities with those of FDTD Solutions and MODE Solutions through Lumerical’s Python API and scripting environment, designers can leverage a highly integrated tool suite to model all aspects of passive and active photonic components.
Together with the FEEM solver, the 2018b release of DEVICE introduces significant improvements specifically aimed at aiding the modeling flow for integrated photonic components. These enhancements include mask-defined ion implantation simulation, more than 500 scriptable material properties, and autocompletion of property and object names in Lumerical’s integrated scripting environment.
Lumerical will present new developments in DEVICE in two webinars, on June 28th and July 12th. The webinars will illustrate best practices for the design of photodetectors and electrooptic modulators, discuss usage of FEEM and its solver objects, and present convergence improvements to the charge transport solver. Interested parties can register at http://lumeri.ca/k25js.
Designers focusing on optimizing system-wide performance will also be able to leverage the many additions to INTERCONNECT, Lumerical's photonic integrated circuit simulation platform. The latest release of this industry-leading PIC simulation package comes with performance improvements to its schematic editor, supporting large scale electronic/photonic integrated circuits. Lumerical’s close collaboration with major photonics foundries, customers, and EDA industry partners also resulted in numerous additions to INTERCONNECT’s simulation capabilities, ranging from non-linear waveguides and time-varying optical S-parameters, to powerful functionality for optical communication systems, such as signal aligners, automatic gain control and filter coefficient equalizers.
The 2018b release is available for download starting June 28th, at https://www.lumerical.com.
SOURCE: Lumerical; https://www.lumerical.com/company/news/releases/lumerical-2018b-release.html
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.