NSF Award
9460452
Since the advent of lasers in the early 1960s and their integration into semiconductor substrates Weidlinger Associates, Inc., has seen traditional electronic technologies augmented by optical devices; the future will see many of them supplanted. These new optoelectronic devices are made possible by a variety of innovative concepts, materials, and designs requiring unprecedented technical sophistication. Monolithic integration has simplified the process considerably, by including waveguide routing, grating couplers, 3-D resonators, and diffractive optics on an IC-like substrate. Digital processor technology is a natural target for optical augmentation. However, as these devices mature, conventional experiments and analyses are approaching practical limits of effectiveness. Comprehensive 2-D and 3-D computer modeling using finite element/finite difference methods is a viable alternative. Such modeling will confer a competitive advantage to users and act as a catalyst for new classes of innovative devices. In Phase I Weidlinger Associates, Inc., will develop a comprehensive finite element/finite difference simulation system to solve Maxwell's equations in integrated optoelectronic devices. This will be based on their existing electromagnetic solver, EMFlex. The immediate need in Phase I appears to be propagation models for routed waveguides, grating couplers, tapers, mirrors, and diffractive optics, rather than active devices or nonlinear models. Their objective is to put this code in the hands of designers and experimentalists immediately.
