{"id":6,"date":"2020-05-19T10:40:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T08:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpethzprd.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2025-11-07T14:17:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:17:55","slug":"homepage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/","title":{"rendered":"P&amp;S: COMSOL Design Tool for Photonic Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Simulation of Optical Components<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Simulation tools are becoming an essential accessory for scientists and engineers for the development of new devices and study of physical phenomena. More and more disciplines rely on accurate simulation tools to get insight and also to accurately design novel devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COMSOL is a powerful multi-physics simulation tool. It is used for a wide range of fields, including electromagnetics, semiconductors, thermodynamics and mechanics. In this P&amp;S we will focus on the rapidly growing field of&nbsp;<strong>integrated photonics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During hands-on exercises, you will learn how to accurately model and simulate various optical devices, which enables&nbsp;<em>high-speed optical communication<\/em>. At the end of the course, students will gain practical experience in simulating photonic components by picking a small&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/11\/Project-List_final_2D.pdf\" data-type=\"attachment\" data-id=\"583\">project<\/a>&nbsp;in which certain photonic devices will be optimized to achieve required specifications. These simulated devices find applications in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) on chip-scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an example of a project, Figure 1 below shows an electromagnetic wave propagating along a silicon waveguide and a 3 dB waveguide coupler.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"855\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler-1024x855.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-523\" style=\"width:569px;height:379px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler-1024x855.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler-300x251.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler-768x641.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler-1536x1283.png 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler-600x501.png 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/02\/waveguide_coupler.png 1796w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Figure 1: An optimized 3 dB waveguide coupler. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lecture information:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lecture <\/strong>will be held live in the lecture room CHN D29 (check the lecture slides and corresponding lecture dates below). <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tutorials<\/strong> will be posted online before the class hours. Your own laptop with COMSOL installed is required for the tutorial. Installation guide will be sent by E-mail.<br>For tutorials &amp; sample models refer to the <a aria-label=\"Comsol models page (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/homepage\/comsol-models\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">COMSOL models page<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For <strong>troubleshooting <\/strong>within your COMSOL simulation, please use the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/homepage\/the-basic-workflow-in-comsol\" target=\"_blank\">Workflow<\/a> and the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/homepage\/common-errors-in-comsol\" target=\"_blank\">Wiki<\/a> on our website.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Please <strong>feel free to contact us<\/strong> in case of any questions, comments or doubts. If needed we can setup a virtual meeting. <br><a href=\"https:\/\/ief.ee.ethz.ch\/people\/person-detail.html?persid=338640\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/ief.ee.ethz.ch\/people\/person-detail.html?persid=361853\">Taichiro Fukui<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"mailto:bosch@ief.ee.ethz.ch\">Maximilian Bosch<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">General Information<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>A basic understanding of electromagnetics is helpful but not mandatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the first half of the semester, different aspects of using COMSOL to design photonic components will be introduced starting from very basics. These lectures will consist of a short theoretical background review and hands on simulations (i.e. point source simulations, Young&#8217;s single\/double slit experiment demonstrations, photonic mode simulations of different waveguides (fiber, slit, etc.), wave propagation simulations, ..) to apply what was demonstrated. In the second half of the semester, the focus will be on designing full-scale photonic components (i.e. directional coupler, ring resonator, multi-mode interferometer, &#8230;), and students can work on their design projects individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The course will be taught in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can navigate to find the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/homepage\/comsol-models\" target=\"_blank\">Comsol models<\/a> that are used during the lectures, the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/the-basic-workflow-in-comsol\" target=\"_blank\">basic workflow<\/a> to use Comsol, and the <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/homepage\/common-errors-in-comsol\" target=\"_blank\">wiki<\/a><\/em> section for the common mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Schedule &amp; Lecture Slides\/Recordings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Week 1 (29.09.2025):&nbsp;Introduction &amp; EM Review | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/09\/Lecture-1_IntroTutorial.pdf\">Lecture &amp; Tutorial<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Week 2 (06.10.2025): EM Review and Introduction to COMSOL | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/Lecture2_EM-Review-Intro-Comsol.pdf\">Lecture <\/a>&amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/Tutorial2_BC__DoublePointSource.pdf\">Tutorial<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Week 3 (13.10.2025): Intro to COMSOL &amp; Young&#8217;s Slit Experiment | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/Lecture3_IntroComsolYoung-Slit.pdf\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/Lecture3_IntroComsolYoung-Slit.pdf\">Lecture &amp; Tutorial<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Week 4 (20.10.2025): Optical Waveguides I | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/LectureTutorial-4_Waveguides.pdf\">Lecture &amp; Tutorial<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Week 5 (27.10.2025): Optical Waveguides II | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/LectureTutorial-5_OpticalWaveguides2.pdf\">Lecture &amp; Tutorial<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/10\/TutorialHomework5_OpticalFiber.pdf\">Homework<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Week 6 (03.11.2025): S-Parameters | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/11\/Lecture6_Waveguides3_Sparameters_theory-1.pdf\">Lecture &amp; Tutorial<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/11\/Lecture7_ProjectsAndHowToPresent.pdf\">Presentation Tips<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/files\/2025\/11\/Project-List_final_2D.pdf\">Group Projects<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Presentation<\/em>: 15.12.2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Deadline for the reports: <\/em>22.12.2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Literature<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>B. Salah and M. Teich, Fundamental of Photonics, 2nd ed., 2007.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>K. Okamoto, Fundamentals of optical waveguides, 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.comsol.com\/models\/wave-optics-module\" target=\"_blank\">COMSOL &#8211; Wave optics module<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contact<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ief.ee.ethz.ch\/people\/person-detail.html?persid=338640\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/ief.ee.ethz.ch\/people\/person-detail.html?persid=361853\">Taichiro Fukui<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto:bosch@ief.ee.ethz.ch\">Maximilian Bosch<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simulation of Optical Components Simulation tools are becoming an essential accessory for scientists and engineers for the development of new devices and study of physical phenomena. More and more disciplines rely on accurate simulation tools to get insight and also to accurately design novel devices. COMSOL is a powerful multi-physics simulation tool. It is used [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45439,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45439"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/ps_comsol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}