Simulating ring resonators - a first.

The multi-topology MT-FIMMPROP photonic simulation tool from Photon Design, which uses its unique, patented and well respected, EigenMode Expansion (EME) computational method, can now simulate ring resonator designs - a first in the photonics industry. The company quantified the performance of its new EME capability in a recent white paper. It concluded that EME delivered equivalent accuracy to industry-standard, Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) tools, but was over 100 times faster using a workstation PC, with no cloud processing necessary. Engineers run many simulations to fine-tune photonics designs, so the shorter runtimes provided by EME enable practical, iterative workflows. In addition, the efficiency of the MT-FIMMPROP software itself, also plays a valuable part in engineers achieving optimal, photonic design results.

Dominic Gallagher, CEO of Photon Design, said: “Photon Design’s MT-FIMMPROP is the only EME-based simulation tool to successfully model ring resonators. Our EME delivers the accuracy of FDTD at far faster simulation speeds and without the need for expensive, pay-per-simulation, cloud computing; often needed for FDTD.

“Our recently published white paper showed that MT-FIMMPROP can process a typical 30um-radius ring resonator in just 11 seconds, on a laptop PC. By comparison, FDTD took four hours for a much smaller and simpler, 12um-radius ring resonator, using a workstation PC. FDTD is slower because it requires more than 11 trillion calculations to process the 12um example, with its computational load increasing eight-fold every time the device size doubles. Had FDTD been used for the 30um ring resonator, the simulation would have taken 15 times longer again.

“MT-FIMMPROP is an efficient computational modeller. Unlike FDTD, which processes the entire device bounding box, EME only processes the ring-resonators’ computational regions, which typically make up less than 5% of the device volume. It also enables engineers to combine and reuse repeated computational regions to avoid both design and process duplication. This simplifies the design process, reduces runtimes and actively supports an iterative photonic design approach.”

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One hundred times faster than standard.

Photon Design has published a white paper comparing the processing speed and accuracy of the company’s EigenMode Expansion (EME) simulation tools, with the more commonly used, Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) alternative. The white paper uses actual design examples to objectively benchmark both computational methods. 

It concludes that Photon Design’s EME results were equally rigorous as those of leading FDTD vendors, but simulations were completed in around 15 seconds, on a workstation PC, whereas FDTD simulations took many hours. Even with expensive, state-of-the-art cloud GPU, the FDTD simulation took 20 minutes for a 12um radius ring resonator, whereas Photon Design’s EME took just 11s for an even more demanding, 30um ring resonator example.

Dominic Gallagher, CEO of Photon Design, said: “FDTD is the most prevalent computational method used by photonic simulation CAD vendors, but it’s slow to process. The misconception within the industry that FDTD’s longer runtime leads to higher rigour, is clearly dispelled in our white paper. EME and FDTD deliver similar simulation results across a range of devices, however, EME achieves these results significantly faster.

“Processing speed is as important as simulation accuracy, when designing photonic devices. To achieve optimal results, engineers often run more than a hundred separate simulations during the photonic design process, whilst fine tuning a design. EME runtimes make this workflow practical, whereas one hundred FDTD simulations would take many days. To meet time restraints and project deadlines, engineers are often forced to produce a design with fewer iterations with FDTD, compromising the quality of the results.”

Processing speed and accuracy are both key when selecting photonics simulation software, which Photon Design’s EME-based tools provide.

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@photond  #Design #Simulation #PAuto #OptimumPDM