Abstract

Integrated optical devices are very often designed and analyzed using a beam propagation method (BPM) [1,2]. Many structures are slowly varying along the light propagation direction and weakly guiding thus, the paraxial, scalar wave equation describes the propagation of an electromagnetic field through a structure. In order to obtain accurate results it is in general neccesary to solve the full 3-dimensional waveguide problem [3]. This means that the calculation time needed for typical waveguide devices is from a few hours up to several days, even if computer workstations are used.

© 1994 Optical Society of America