Modeling and design of optical semiconductor devices using FEMLAB, Wavelets and adaptivity

At PRI, we are building modules for photonics device modeling using MATLAB and FEMLAB and multiresolution analysis techniques. There are many challenges that await technical innovations to make these modules competitive with much higher end software currently available commercially. Our initial emphasis has been on the modeling of nonlinear optical phenomena that advanced devices rely on as well as nonlinear optical processes one may want to control in such semiconductor laser devices for telecom and homeland security applications. We have also modeled superprisms and photonic band gap structures. A comprehensive semiconductor laser diode model is being constructed and tested against experimental data so that gain modeling, carrier, heat and photon transport can all be combined in a predictive module. Wavelets can help choose optimum meshes that are dynamically adapted to capture nonlinear steepening and field concentrations that change over the course of one simulation. Finite element techniques are well suited for static non-uniformities. Finite elements and wavelets are thus seen to play complementary and mutually reinforcing roles.