Boston University Photonics Center Symposium on
Open-Source Computational Electromagnetics

Date: Monday October 24 & Tuesday October 25, 2016

Time: 9am-5pm EST

Location: Boston University Photonics Center, Room 901, 8 Saint Mary's St., Boston, MA 02215

Format: multiple sessions; schedule

Registration: via email to [email protected] by Friday October 21

Cost: Free & Open to the Public

Flyer: link

Materials: Day 1, Day 2

Abstract

The Boston University Photonics Center is hosting a two-day symposium on computational electromagnetics presented by the developers of popular open-source simulation tools. Multiple hands-on, interactive sessions will introduce participants to setting up and launching electromagnetic simulations using state-of-the-art software packages originally developed at MIT: differential-equation solvers MEEP (finite-difference time-domain) and MPB (frequency-domain eigenmode expansion), and integral-equation solvers SCUFF-EM (frequency-domain boundary element) and BUFF-EM (frequency-domain volume element). This suite of simulation tools supports a wide range of electromagnetic design and modeling.

Participants are required to bring their laptops and will be guided through several tutorial examples involving (1) preparing simulation models, (2) deploying them using high-performance computing (HPC) via Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), and (3) post-processing the results using Octave. The examples will be based on topics relevant to current research. The instructors will be available for private consultation after the workshop to further assist participants with the simulation tools.

Instructors

M. T. Homer Reid is Instructor of Applied Mathematics at MIT. Homer received his doctorate in Physics from MIT (thesis: A New Algorithm for Efficient Prediction of Casimir Interactions among Arbitrary Materials in Arbitrary Geometries) working with Professors Jacob White of Electrical Engineering and Steven G. Johnson of Applied Mathematcs, and completed his undergraduate degree at Princeton University. Homer is the developer of the open-source software packages SCUFF-EM and BUFF-EM.

Ardavan Oskooi is the Founder and CEO of Simpetus, a San Francisco-based startup accelerating photonics innovation and discovery with simulations. Ardavan received his Sc.D. from MIT where he worked with Professors Steven G. Johnson and John D. Joannopoulos (thesis: Computation & Design for Nanophotonics) to develop MEEP. Ardavan has published 13 first-author articles in peer-reviewed journals and the book Advances in FDTD Computational Electrodynamics: Photonics and Nanotechnology. He has a masters in Computation for Design and Optimization from MIT and completed his undergraduate studies, with honors, in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto. Prior to launching Simpetus, Ardavan worked with Professors Susumu Noda at Kyoto University and Stephen R. Forrest at the University of Michigan on leveraging MEEP to push the frontier of optoelectronic device design.

Faculty Host: Prof. Luca Dal Negro, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering & Photonics Center, Boston University

Schedule

Day 1: Monday Oct. 24, 2016 — Differential-Equation Solvers

9-10:15am

Overview of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and introduction to MEEP. Summary of steps involved in running MEEP calculations. Transmission through a waveguide bend as a first example.

10:15-10:30am

Coffee Break

10:30-11:15am

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 1: Solar Light Trapping in Nanostructured Thin Films

    — Materials with arbitrary, complex refractive indicies
    — Obliquely-incident planewave sources

11:15am-12:00pm

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 2: Far-Field Diffraction of Binary Gratings

    — Near-to-far-field transformation
    — Visualization of field propagation

12:00-1:30pm

Lunch

1:30-3:00pm

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 3: Spontaneous-Emission Enhancement Rate and Light-Extraction Efficiency of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

    — Incoherent emission from dipole excitons based on Monte-Carlo methods
    — Surface-plasmon polaritons (SPP)
    — Parallelization of large computational volumes

3:00-3:15pm

Coffee Break

3:15-3:45pm

Overview of spectral methods and introduction to MPB eigenmode solver. Summary of steps involved in running MPB calculations.

3:45-4:15pm

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 4: Band Diagram of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Waveguides

    — Strip and rib waveguides
    — Identification of guided and radiative modes

4:15-5:00pm

Tying up loose ends; open-ended question-and-answer session; individual consultations.

Day 2: Tuesday Oct. 25, 2016 — Integral-Equation Solvers

9-10:15am

Overview of integral-equation methods and introduction to SCUFF-EM/BUFF-EM. Summary of steps involved in running SCUFF/BUFF calculations. Mie scattering as a first example. Error analysis and mesh convergence.

10:15-10:30am

Coffee Break

10:30-11:15am

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 1: Plasmonics and Nanoantennas

    — Bowtie antennas: power absorption, visualization of field profiles, LDOS at hot spot
    — Polarization-controlled nanofocusing at multiple wavelengths: Trevino structure and related structures

11:15am-12:00pm

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 2: Imaging, Diffraction, and Transmission

    — Visualizing diffraction patterns: periodic and aperiodic structures
    — Transmission through thin films and films perforated by arrays of holes
    — Metamaterial polarization rotators

12:00-1:30pm

Lunch

1:30-3:00pm

Real-world tutorial examples, Part 3: Forces, Torques, and Power Transfer from both Deterministic and Stochastic Sources

    — Optical force (radiation pressure) and torque on asymmetric and/or chiral particles irradiated by deterministic sources (planewaves and Gaussian beams)
    — Forces and torques due to non-deterministic sources: self-propulsion and self-rotation of warm asymmetric/chiral particles in cold environments. Optical angular momentum (OAM) emitted via thermal radiation
    — Near-field radiative heat transfer: Radiative energy transfer from warm to cold bodies. Applications to thermophotovoltaics

3:00-3:15pm

Coffee Break

3:15-5:00pm

Tying up loose ends; open-ended question-and-answer session; individual consultations.