Optical waveguide grating couplers: 2nd-order and 4th-order finite-difference time-domain analysis

Aristeides D Papadopoulos; Elias N Glytsis

doi:10.1364/AO.48.005164

Optical waveguide grating couplers: 2nd-order and 4th-order finite-difference time-domain analysis

Appl Opt. 2009 Sep 20;48(27):5164-75. doi: 10.1364/AO.48.005164.

Authors

Aristeides D Papadopoulos¹, Elias N Glytsis

Affiliation

¹ School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece 15773. arpapad@mail.ntua.gr

PMID: 19767934
DOI: 10.1364/AO.48.005164

Abstract

Output optical waveguide grating couplers are rigorously analyzed using the 2-order and the 4-order finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method in conjunction with the total field/scattered field (TF-SF) approach and special averaging and regularization techniques for the mitigation of permittivity discontinuities. Volume-holographic and surface-relief grating couplers are analyzed for both TE and TM polarizations. The 2- and 4-order FDTD results are compared in terms of computational efficiency and accuracy. In addition, the FDTD results are compared to the approximate ones obtained by the rigorous coupled-wave analysis in conjunction with the leaky modes.