A Comprehensive Introduction to the Simulation Ecosystem for Photonic ICs

Overview

The design of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) requires accurate modeling that spans multiple abstraction levels—from material physics to system-level performance. A comprehensive simulation framework bridges these domains, enabling engineers and researchers to transition seamlessly from device-level optimization to circuit and system verification. Lumerical provides such an ecosystem, combining multiphysics solvers, compact model libraries, and circuit-level simulation to accelerate innovation in PIC design.

FDTD, MODE, HEAT, and CHARGE solvers can capture electromagnetic fields, waveguide modes, thermo-optic effects, and carrier dynamics to accurately model lasers, modulators, photodetectors, and passive waveguides with multiphysics effects.

• Generate compact models in CML Compiler directly from device simulations or experimental results to capture nonlinearities, dispersion, and thermal effects for use in higher-level simulations.
• Assemble compact models into complete PIC designs in INTERCONNECT performs time-domain, frequency-domain, and statistical analyses at the circuit level.
• Co-simulate with electronic design tools for electro-optic system verification.
• Analyze link budgets, signal integrity, and BER in optical communication systems.

Explore architectures for data centers, LiDAR, and quantum photonics.

What Attendees Will Learn

• Learn end-to-end workflow: Device Physics → Compact Models → Circuit Simulation → System Validation.
• Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) antenna simulation and analysis in MODE, FDTD, and INTERCONNECT

Who Should Attend and Why

• Photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designers, engineers and researchers
• Graduate students and postdocs working in optics and photonics

Speaker

• Shruti Pandey