Combined beam propagation and finite element method for bidirectional optical beam propagation analysis

Abstract

As a powerful and efficient algorithm for bidirectional beam propagation analysis, a combination of the beam propagation method (BPM) and the finite element method (FEM) is proposed. Since the FEM is applied only to regions with significant reflected waves, arbitrary waveguide structures can be treated. A perfectly matched layer boundary condition to avoid nonphysical reflections from computational window edges is introduced. To show the validity and usefulness of the approach proposed here, numerical examples for a semiconductor laser facet and a hemispherically‐ended optical waveguide connection are presented. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 82(10): 1–9, 1999