Input Profile

The electric field component of the beam is assumed to be dominantly polarized along the x or y directions (linearly polarized), with no component along the z direction. This would be true in weakly guided structures encountered in intregrated optics.

The x- and y-polarized beam profile at z=0 must be specified. This can be done in one of several different ways:

• An arbitrary two-dimensional field profile can be uploaded as ASCII numeric values. This profile must be uploaded as five separate text files. The first file defines the x-grid. It is simply a column of numbers. Similarly, the second file defines the y-grid. The third file contains the magnitude of the X-field 2-D profile that corresponds to the grid points defined in the previous two files. Similarly, the fourth file contains the Y-field 2-D profile. The fifth file is the 2-D distribution of the longitudinal phase of the X+Y profile. If the phase file is not uploaded, it is assumed to be constant phase profile.
  
  
• The field can be created using a set of built-in polygon functions. Each polygon is a two dimenssional shape. The field value inside the polygon is specified by the user, and the field value outside the polygon is zero. Multiple polygons can be entered, and most geometries of interest can be constructed this way. Click here for a complete description.
  
  
• The distribution profile from another job can be transferred to this job. This could be useful when repeating different computations on the same profile. When a field, refractive index or function is plotted from the other program, there should be an option at the bottom of the screen for copying that distribution as the refractive index distribution for another program.