Upgraded software streamlines optical system design

The RSoft Photonic System Design Suite includes libraries of components and algorithms to streamline the design of photonic chips, modulator circuits and coherent transceivers, as well as an innovative platform for modeling large-core multimode fibres. The enhancements in version 2015.06 facilitate faster, more efficient design of a wide range of current and emerging photonic devices, photonic circuits and fibre-based applications.

"The updated RSoft Photonic Component Design Suite helps designers model photonic devices with greater efficiency, accuracy and flexibility. For example, advanced modeling capabilities in FullWAVE simplify the design of photonic nanostructures used in LCDs," said George Bayz, Vice President and General Manager, Optical Solutions Group, Synopsys. "In addition, added capabilities in the RSoft Photonic System Design Suite provide realistic feedback to help identify opportunities to improve the performance of optical communication systems and photonic circuits early in the product development stages."

FullWAVE FDTD simulations can now contain both anisotropic and dispersive materials. This provides designers with highly accurate simulations of photonic structures that contain metals and other materials with complex dispersion characteristics, such as twisted nematic crystals used in LCDs, surface plasmonics and metamaterials.

FullWAVE options to arbitrarily rotate and vary the crystal axes of anisotropic materials simplify the simulation of LCDs containing multiple anisotropic layers at different orientations. Increased efficiency of FullWAVE simulations when used on multi-CPU computers yields speed increases of up to three times.

The Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) Utility has been updated with ease-of-use improvements, greater flexibility, and support for silicon-based AWGs. Updated Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function (BSDF) capabilities include a graphical user interface for the calculation of BSDF files and improved handling of dispersion by the RSoft BSDF User Defined Optical Property (UDOP) interface for use with Synopsys' LightTools illumination design software. RSoft BSDF capabilities provide a highly accurate method for modeling an optical surface's scattering properties and help designers achieve stringent size, weight and cost targets.

Additional features in The RSoft CAD Environment help make design creation and management faster and easier, especially when working with multiple design files.

In the OptSim Circuit tool, IMEC foundry process design kits help photonic chip designers incorporate foundry-specific components into their circuit designs, bringing them closer to the foundry process ecosystem. In addition, traveling wave Mach-Zehnder modulator circuit components provide designers with an insight into complex bidirectional optical and RF signal interactions.

In the OptSim tool, a MATLAB library of DSP algorithms for coherent transceivers gives designers flexibility to pick and choose from the supplied library of DSP algorithms, make changes, or incorporate their own algorithms and evaluate system performance.

In the ModeSYS tool, modeling of large-core step-index multimode fibres based on the Gloge power-flow approach provides a more efficient approach to modeling large-core (200μm and larger) multimode fibres and analysing encircled angular flux.

"In the silicon photonics multi-project wafer ecosystem, getting the design right the first time is critical because of the cost of manufacturing and testing," said Dr. Amit Khanna, Research Engineer, responsible for Silicon Photonics PDK development and MPW shuttle runs at IMEC. "The PDKs provide a library of proven and reusable components that effectively assist in the design stage. As the complexity of photonic chips increases, design tools will be invaluable for enhancing functionality and avoiding errors. We are pleased to be actively working with Synopsys in supporting our Silicon Photonic PDK in their photonic circuit design tool OptSim Circuit."

"When modeling large-core multimode fibres commonly used in Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) in automobiles, conventional methods and radial mode solvers require exorbitantly large computational power," said Dr. Manabu Kagami, Principal Researcher, Information & Communication Research Division, Toyota Central R&D Labs. "Being able to model these communication systems efficiently makes all the difference for a successful product launch. We closely collaborated with the RSoft team at Synopsys during their development of the Gloge power-flow-based approach in RSoft ModeSYS, which provides an accurate, efficient platform for modeling large-core fibres. We have seen close correlation between the ModeSYS simulation results and our laboratory measurements. ModeSYS will help us develop ADAS solutions and get them to market faster."

Synopsys' RSoft products version 2015.06 are available now. Customers with a current maintenance agreement can download this version from the Synopsys website using their SolvNet account.