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Understanding the Paraxial Gaussian Beam Formula
The Gaussian beam is recognized as one of the most useful light sources. To describe the Gaussian beam, there is a mathematical formula called the paraxial Gaussian beam formula. Today, we’ll learn...
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Introduction to Multiscale Modeling in High-Frequency Electromagnetics
This post begins a comprehensive blog series where we will look at several approaches to multiscale modeling in high-frequency electromagnetics. Today, we will introduce the supporting theory and...
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2 Methods for Simulating Radiated Fields in COMSOL Multiphysics®
In Part 2 of our blog series on multiscale modeling in high-frequency electromagnetics, we discuss a practical implementation of multiscale techniques in the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. We will...
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How to Couple Radiating and Receiving Antennas in Your Simulations
In Part 3 of our series on multiscale modeling in high-frequency electromagnetics, let’s turn our attention to the receiving antenna. We’ve already covered theory and definitions in Part 1 and...
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How to Couple a Full-Wave Simulation to a Ray Tracing Simulation
Welcome back to our discussion on multiscale modeling in high-frequency electromagnetics. Multiscale modeling is a simulation challenge that arises when there are vastly different scales in a single...
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Improving the Design of Monolithically Integrated Magneto-Optic Routers
While electro-optic (EO) routers are currently used in on-chip optical communication systems, they may require too much power for some applications. In these situations, we can look to monolithically...
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How to Implement the Fourier Transformation from Computed Solutions
We previously learned how to calculate the Fourier transform of a rectangular aperture in a Fraunhofer diffraction model in the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. In that example, the aperture was given as...
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Analyzing the Design of a New Generation of Midinfrared Fiber Optics
Optical fibers that deliver midinfrared wavelengths are in high demand for a range of relative applications. As infrared transparent materials, semiconductors are useful for this purpose when combined...
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How to Model the Optical Properties of Rough Surfaces
Whenever light is incident on a dielectric material, like glass, part of the light is transmitted while another part is reflected. Sometimes, we add a metal coating, such as gold, which alters the...
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Silicon Photonics: Designing and Prototyping Silicon Waveguides
In 1870, an audience watched as a stage was set with two buckets, one on top of the other. Due to a small hole in the upper bucket, water poured into the lower bucket, bending as it did so. To the...
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How to Model Optical Anisotropic Media with COMSOL Multiphysics®
On a bright evening in 1669, Professor Erasmus Bartholinus looked through a piece of an Icelandic calcite crystal he had placed onto a bench. He observed when he covered text on the bench with the...
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How to Use the Beam Envelopes Method for Wave Optics Simulations
In the wave optics field, it is difficult to simulate large optical systems in a way that rigorously solves Maxwell’s equation. This is because the waves that appear in the system need to be resolved...
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How to Model Linear and Nonlinear Optics in the COMSOL® Software
In 1875, John Kerr placed current-carrying coils in holes on either side of a glass slab, which created an electric field. After a polarized beam of light passed through the slab, he noticed that the...
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Chasing Waves: The Story of John Scott Russell and the KdV Equation
During his life, John Scott Russell chased his passion for science — literally. While watching horses pull a boat through a shallow canal, he noticed a wave behaving strangely and followed it for one...
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The Nonparaxial Gaussian Beam Formula for Simulating Wave Optics
In a previous blog post, we discussed the paraxial Gaussian beam formula. Today, we’ll talk about a more accurate formulation for Gaussian beams, available as of version 5.3a of the COMSOL® software....
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Calculating the Spectral Properties of an Optical Ring Resonator
If you ever visit the extravagant dome within St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, be careful what you say. As Lord Rayleigh discovered circa 1878, the vaulted structure exhibits an interesting acoustics...
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Keynote Video: Improving Synchrotron Light Sources with Applications
When it comes to synchrotron light sources, brighter is better. By using bright beams in their accelerator, researchers at the Advanced Proton Source (APS) synchrotron facility can efficiently gather...
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Engineering the Flow of Light Using Photonic Crystals
In 1980, Eli Yablonovitch from Bell Communication Research pondered how to reduce losses in semiconductor lasers in a specific frequency range. He sliced periodic circular holes in a transparent medium...
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What Is the Curl Element (and Why Is It Used)?
The curl element, sometimes called edge element or vector element, is widely used in the finite element method to solve electromagnetics problems. This blog post gives a comprehensive introduction to...
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How to Perform Lens Simulations Using the Wave Optics Module
Performing lens simulations in wave optics is generally difficult, because it requires a lot of mesh elements. In this blog post, we demonstrate how the Wave Optics Module, an add-on to the COMSOL...
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