ECE 60432 - Nanophotonic Modeling

Note:

This course is runs the first five weeks of the semester and is offered through edX.

Course Details

Lecture Hours: 3 Credits: 1

Areas of Specialization:

  • Fields and Optics

Counts as:

Normally Offered:

Each Spring

Campus/Online:

On-campus and online

Requisites:

Graduate Standing; ECE 60400 (may be taken concurrently)

Requisites by Topic:

Electromagnetic Field Theory

Catalog Description:

This course is an introduction to photonic materials and devices structured on the wavelength scale. Generally, these systems will be characterized as having critical dimensions at the nanometer scale. These can include nanophotonic, plasmonic, and metamaterials components and systems. This course will aim to introduce students to computational techniques employed in current design and research efforts in nanophotonics. Students will learn the strengths and weaknesses of each approach; what types of problems call for which one; and how your simulation will perform. Techniques include eigenvalue problems, fast Fourier transforms, band structure calculations, rigorous-coupled wave analysis, and finite-difference time-domain. Potential applications include photovoltaics, thermal management, radiative control, and nonlinear optics. The course should be useful for graduate students interested in incorporating these techniques into their design projects or thesis research.

Required Text(s):

  1. Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light , Joannopoulos, J.D., Johnson, S.G., Winn, J. N., & Meade, R. B. , Princeton University Press , 2008 , ISBN No. 9780691124568

Recommended Text(s):

None.

Learning Outcomes

  • Write photonic modes using Bloch's theorem
  • Calculate standing wave modes at the band edge of a 1D periodic photonic crystal
  • Calculate TE and TM modes at the band edge of a 2D square-periodic photonic crystal
  • Draw the irreducible Brillouin zone for a 2D triangular lattice photonic crystal
  • Calculate the band structure of a 2D triangular lattice photonic crystal for the lowest 8 bands using MIT Photonic Bands
  • Identify the lowest-energy photonic bandgap in TE and TM polarizations associated with a 2D triangular lattice photonic crystal
  • Use a ray-optics transfer matrix to calculate the reflection and transmission associated with multiple optical elements
  • Use a wave-optics T-matrix to calculate transmission and reflection through several dielectric layers arranged in a 1D stack
  • Use a wave-optics S-matrix to calculate transmission and reflection through several dielectric layers arranged in a 1D stack
  • Use Singular Value Decomposition in CAMFR to calculate the eigenmodes associated with a photonic crystal waveguide structure consisting of a row of defects.
  • Calculate the quality factor of a resonant mode using the FDTD method
  • Calculate the band structure of a 2D periodic structure using the FDTD method
  • To calculate the relative enhancement in the local density of photonic states associated with a defect in a 2D photonic crystal using the FDTD method
  • To calculate a transmission spectrum using the Finite Element Method
  • To calculate a transmission spectrum for a waveguide using the Beam Propagation Method
  • To calculate the emission spectrum of a photonic emitter using the Finite Element Method

Lecture Outline:

Week Topic
1-2 Photonic Bandstructures: physical efforts of periodic media, Bloch solutions
3 Transfer Matrices: transmission and reflection of multi-layer systems, with and without lateral periodicities
4 Time-domain simulations: leapfrog PDE solvers, Yee lattice, modern FDTD tools
5 Finite-element methods: Galerkin method, applications to photovoltaics, thermal management, and radiative control.

Assessment Method:

The course is graded on quizzes.