Reflective MMI: Forward and Backward Propagation and Reflective Region Simulation

Synopsys RSoft Device tools provide a wide spectrum of photonics component simulation software, each solving a specific kind of problems. Many of these problems are too big or too complex to be simulated by a single tool, however we can break them  into a number of smaller problems and solve them using our suite of tools. In this application note, we’ll look at forward and backward propagation with BeamPROP BPM and reflective region simulation with FullWAVE FDTD.

  • MMIs are a common device inphotonics integrated circuits (PICs)
  • Conventional MMIs are usually very long, making integration onto a PIC difficult
  • Reflective MMIs with etched TIR mirrors save space for integration

The Challenge

The MMI structure is too large for the FullWAVE FDTD method, especially for 3-dimensional results. On the other hand, BeamPROP BPM cannot handle facet reflection.

The Solution

The best approach is to combine the use of BeamPROP BPM for the MMI region and FullWAVE FDTD for the facets. RSoft Photonic Device Tools integrate seamlessly within the RSoft CAD Environment.

Read the full presentation PDF to learn more the steps involved in this method.