Field of Expertise: Advanced Material Science | |
A SIMULATION PROCEDURE FOR LIGHT-MATTER INTERACTION AT DIFFERENT LENGTH SCALES The development of photonic devices with tailor-made optical properties requires the control and the manipulation of light propagation within structures of different length scales, ranging from sub-wavelength to macroscopic dimensions. However, optical simulation at different length scales necessitates the combination of different simulation methods, which have to account properly for various effects such as polar¬ization, interference, or diffraction: At dimensions much larger than the wavelength of light common ray-tracing (RT) techniques are conveniently employed, while in the sub-wavelength regime more sophisticated approaches, like the so-called finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique, are needed. Describing light propagation both in the sub-wavelength regime as well as at macroscopic length scales can only be achieved by bridging between these two approaches, which in our case is realized by the set-up of an interface for the two commercial simulation programs ASAP (Breault Research) and FDTD SOLUTIONS (Lumerical). |