Hybrid Time-and-Frequency-Domain approach for modeling photonic integrated circuits

Modern simulators of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) employ either frequency-domain or time-domain approaches for system-level modeling of PICs. We critically examine limitations of both approaches that obstruct their usage for simulations of large-scale PICs, and suggest an efficient hybrid alternative. Within this new approach clusters of connected linear PIC elements are modeled in frequency domain, while interconnections between such clusters and non-passive PIC elements are modeled in time domain.