User-friendly computer-aided integrated optics simulator

We have developed a user friendly program to analyze the electromagnetic behavior of general integrated optics circuits with a two-dimensional Beam Propagation Method. As a graphical interface for the description of the circuit under analysis we used a file produced by the optical layout generator Sigraph-Optik (copyright by Siemens-Nixdorf), while we acquire all the parameters necessary for the simulation via pop-up menus or a command file. The electromagnetic analysis is at the moment performed with the Beam Propagation Method based on FFT but we are working to extend it to a Crank-Nicholson finite difference scheme with transparent boundary conditions to minimize the computational window. The program final output are color maps and data files containing the effective refractive index and the field amplitude and phase. It is then possible to carry out a post processing on such files to make three dimensional graphs that summarize the circuit performance, to extract two dimensional plots at particular circuit sections and to project the field on the local normal modes of the waveguides. Examples of the simulation capabilities are given.