1. Modeling and Simulation of Photonic Devices and Circuits I (Passive Devices and Circuits)
A course on:
Optical wave and wave propagation
Material optical property
Optical waveguide
Numerical solution techniques
Photonic device and circuit design and analysis examples

2. Course Outline Introduction Maxwell’s equations
Material optical property
Numerical solution technique I - FDTD
Wave equation and wave propagation
Reflection and refraction
Optical waveguide and resonator
Numerical solution technique II - Mode solver and mode matching
Optical diffraction
Numerical solution technique III - Ray tracing and BPM
Photonic device and circuit design and modeling examples
Beam splitter (Y and MMI)
Wavelength demultiplexer (AWG)
Optical filters (MZ, ring, and grating)
Polarization rotator

3. Introduction - Motivation
Increased complexity in component design to meet the enhanced performance on demand
Monolithic integration for cost effectiveness - similarity to the development of electronic integrated circuits
Maturity of fabrication technologies
Better understanding on device physics
Maturity of numerical techniques
Unlimited computing resources – from parallel/grid to cloud computing
which leads to the recent rapid progress on the computer-aided design, modeling and simulation of photonic devices

4. Introduction - Motivation
Conventional Approach
New idea
New idea
Computer-aided design and modeling
“Back of envelop” design
Simulation
Experiment (costly)
Works?
No (very likely)
Yes
Works?
No (very likely)
Experiment (costly)
Yes
End
Works?
No (less likely)
Effective Approach
Yes
End

5. Introduction - Physics Processes in Photonic Device
Potential and carrier distribution
(Poisson and continuity equations)
Bias I(t) or V(t)
Material optical property
Temperature distribution
(Thermal diffusion equation)
Ambient temperature T(t)
Optical field distribution
(Maxwell’s equations)
Optical input
Optical output

6. Comparison - Physics Processes in Optoelectronic Device
Bias I(t) or V(t)
Ambient temperature T(t)
Potential and carrier distribution
(The Poisson and continuity equations)
Temperature distribution
(The thermal diffusion equation)
Material gain and refractive index change
(The Heisenberg equation)
Band structure
(The SchrÖdinger equation)
Optical field distribution
(The Maxwell’s equations)
Output
Recombinations
Saturation and detuning

7. Introduction – from Devices to Circuits
Device level:
Optical field distribution
(Maxwell’s equations)
Optical input
Optical output
Parameterization: S-matrix extraction
Layout: topology analysis
Circuit analysis: from S-matrix to T-matrix
Device 1
Device 2
Device 3
Circuit
Device 4
Device N

8. Introduction - Description of Physics Processes
From external bias to carrier and potential distribution – carrier transport model (Maxwell’s equations in its quasi-static electric field form)
From ambient temperature to device temperature distribution – thermal diffusion model
Material model (usually empirical or phenomenological)
From material optical property and 3D waveguide geometrical structure to wave propagation and device function – Maxwell’s equations in its full dynamic form

9. Introduction - Course Organization
Lectures:
Maxwell’s equations: 6 hours
Material optical property: 1.5 hours
Numerical solution technique I - FDTD: 1.5 hours
Wave equation and wave propagation: 1.5 hours
Reflection and refraction: 1.5 hours
Optical waveguide and resonator: 3 hours
Numerical solution technique II – Mode solver and mode matching: 1.5 hours
Optical diffraction: 1.5 hours
Numerical solution technique III – Ray tracing and BPM: 3 hours
Photonic device and circuit design examples: 9 hours
Total: 30 hours
Reference books:
Jackson’s Classical Electrodynamics
Marcuse’s Theory of Dielectric Optical Waveguides
Born and Wolf’s Principles of Optics
Huang’s PIER 10 and 11 – Methods for Modeling and Simulation of Guided-Wave Optoelectronic Devices
Assessment:
4 assignments: 20%
FDTD minor project: 40%
Choose one of the following 4 minor projects: 40%
(1) Mode solver (2) Mode matching (3) BPM (4) Ray tracing