Picwave Software

PICWave Software: A photonic IC circuit simulator capable of modelling both passive and active components efficiently using a time domain method. The simulator is ideal for studying the interaction of optical components in a larger circuit and can model devices that are even metres in length. It can for example model a 2mm diameter ring resonator in a very short time to resolutions of a few MHz in optical frequency.

Calculation method : The calculation engine of PICWAVE is based on a powerful and flexible Travelling Wave Time Domain (TWTD) model, from which almost all other results are derived.

Structure description : A device is defined by one or more discrete waveguide sections and connected by joins . Each join can connect 2 (a facet), 3 (a power splitter) or 4 waveguides (a power coupler) allowing you to build circuits with complex topology.

Waveguide model: a 2D (+Z) waveguide solver based on the effective index approximation.

Grating model : The program includes an integrated a Kappaa calculator which will model a grating of near arbitrary shape using coupled mode theory. This supports gain gratings, loss gratings as well as real index gratings.

Electrical model: Active sections include a comprehensive physical model for lateral carrier diffusion within each layer. Each section can have one or more electrical contacts that are connected to a drive node via a resistive network.