Numerical modeling and analysis of optical response of electro-optic modulators

This paper presents an analysis of a LiNbO/sub 3/ electro-optic modulator using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) technique, and also a new and efficient multiresolution time-domain technique for fast and accurate modeling of photonic devices. The electromagnetic fields computed by FDTD are coupled to standard electro-optic relations that characterize electo-optic interactions. This novel approach to LiNbO/sub 3/ electro-optic modulators using a coupled FDTD technique allows for previously unattainable investigations into device operating bandwidth and data transmission speed. On the other hand, the proposed multiresolution approach presented in this paper solves Maxwell's equations on nonuniform self-adaptive grids, obtained by applying wavelet transforms followed by hard thresholding. The developed technique is employed to simulate a coplanar waveguide CPW, which represents an electro-optic modulator. Different numerical examples are presented showing more than 75% CPU-time reduction, while maintaining the same degree of accuracy of standard FDTD techniques.