Bidirectional Beam Propagation Method Based on Axi-Symmetric Full-Vectorial Finite Element Method

Abstract

We first present a bidirectional beam propagation method (BiBPM) based on axially symmetric full-vectorial finite element method (Axi-FVFEM). The Axi-FVFEM based BiBPM is a more versatile method than previous scalar BiBPM for axi-symmetric structure. It has potential to offer more efficient analysis than widely used FEM or finite difference based techniques, especially for a large scale waveguide such as a long periodic structure. An air gap in an axi-symmetric waveguide and a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) are analyzed using the Axi-FVFEM based BiBPM for numerical validation, and we compare the numerical results with those of a 3D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and a modal-based method.