It is essential to use computer simulations to improve the performance of photonic devices. Our research focuses on developing high-performance numerical simulation methods to enable further progress in optical information processing and communications．
Our work focuses on developing practical software technologies that play an increasingly important role in the analysis and design of photonic devices, which require large-scale electromagnetic simulations. In this study, we propose a method that integrates the propagation operator approach into the finite element method (FEM) to improve the efficiency of optical waveguide simulations.
With the rapid growth of data traffic, the demand for higher transmission speeds and greater communication capacity is increasing. Therefore, improving the performance of optical waveguide devices is essential for next-generation optical communication systems.
In addition, due to issues with power consumption and heat generation in electronic circuits, the replacement of electronic processing with optical technologies is attracting attention. In recent years, high-performance optical devices have been proposed through the optimization of microstructures using various solution search algorithms. However, designs that require global optimization searches face challenges such as enormous amounts of computational time and memory. Therefore, it is crucial to develop practical, high-speed, and highly accurate analysis techniques.
Propagation operators are derived by discretizing cross sections perpendicular to the propagation direction of light waves, and are used to evaluate the propagation of arbitrary light waves through a waveguide. This method reduces the dimensionality of the analysis domain and eliminates the need to calculate eigenmodes, thereby significantly improving computational efficiency. We have previously validated the effectiveness of the propagation operator method in the analysis of discontinuous waveguides, and have applied it to improve the overall efficiency of FEM analysis. In particular, by introducing propagation operators into boundary treatments for open boundary problems, we can truncate the computational domain without using absorbing boundary conditions, reducing the required domain size and improving computational efficiency. Furthermore, we derive scattering operators using FEM matrices, eliminating the need to solve large-scale simultaneous linear equations and realizing a domain decomposition method without iterative procedures.
This method greatly contributes to improving design efficiency in structural optimization, as it enables analysis of the characteristics of the entire structure by updating only the scattering operators in the modified region. In the future, we aim to build an automated optimal design system that does not require human intervention, covering the entire process from design to manufacturing. Furthermore, it is expected that this method will be applied to large-scale design problems, such as data processing circuits in optical computing, the development of elements with new material properties using metamaterials, and optimal design through multiphysics analysis.
| Research | |
|---|---|
| Journal | IEICE Transaction on Electronics (Japanese Edition) |
| Title | Efficiency Improvement of Optical Waveguide Analysis by Finite Element Method Using Propagation Operator |
| Author | Keita Morimoto, Akito Iguchi, and Yasuhide Tsuji |
| Member | Keita Morimoto |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.14923/transelej.2022JCI0021 |
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