SUMMARYBoth the longitudinal and transverse charge diffusion terms in the rate equations as well as the spreading effect of the injected charge in the active layer are taken into account for a complete model of active twin ridge InGaAsP/InP-waveguides. A dedicated computer code, relying on an optimized beam propagation method (BPM) based on the method of lines (MoL-BPM), is written. The computer code is used for the optimal design of a travelling-wave switch and to simulate the bidirectional propagation for the design of a Fabry-Perot switch. This last switch version is more compact with respect to the travelling wave (TW) version because a reduction of the switch length of about 20% is gained.