What’s new in our Optical Modeling and Design Software?

Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) constitute an ascending technology that is known for its reliability and wavelength stability, as well for good quality in terms of the emitting beam. For that reason, they are commonly used in various applications involving e.g. beam splitters and pattern generators.

In VirtualLab Fusion the newly introduced Multiple Light Source allows for the definition of individual VCSELs and whole VCSEL arrays.

In the areas of illumination and imaging the simulation of complex source models like light source arrays or extended sources is necessary for many different applications.

We therefore want to demonstrate a new feature from the latest VirtualLab Fusion release (2021.1) which enables the configuration of such kind of sources through the definition and combination of different source modes. The modes can be configured as coherent or incoherent to each other to allow for the modeling of either fully coherent, fully incoherent or partially coherent sources.

In order to provide additional design freedom in terms of polarization control and multiplexing, in many applications anisotropic layers are attached to the surfaces of optical components.

As the birefringence effect depends strongly on the orientation of the crystal axis with respect to the direction of the incoming light, the discussion of such kind of components is especially interesting when the coating is applied to a curved surface.

Birefringence and other polarization effects are a major part of any simulation of anisotropic optical components, which feature prominently in many applications, the fabrication of liquid crystal displays among them.

VirtualLab Fusion gives you the option to include anisotropic media in your system, in the form of coating layers or in different components, like the Stratified Media component or the Crystal Plate. This allows for a complete simulation of single and multi-layer polarizers as demonstrated in the examples below.

Anisotropic media, and crystals in particular, have long been linchpin components for various applications, including lasers and display technologies.

A HIGHLIGHT OF THE LATEST RELEASE, 2021.1

For the design, simulation and optimization of such kind of optical setups, VirtualLab Fusion provides a fast and rigorous electromagnetic field solver
that models the propagation of the electromagnetic field through anisotropic media, including polarization effects like conical refraction and birefringence.

Multimode fibers are an integral part of most optical communication technologies. For a sound modeling of such structures, accurate propagation of the fiber modes and their interference is necessary. In VirtualLab Fusion it is possible to use Bessel and Laguerre Polynomials to describe the fiber modes, for single-core fibers as well as graded-index ones. The resulting modes can then also be propagated while considering additional effects like e.g. atmospheric turbulence.

The new version 2021.1 provides our users with solutions for more applications. Also we come with a new workflow which enables a seamless transition from ray to full
physical-optics modeling. This way we simplify the usage of the amazing modeling features in VirtualLab Fusion.

One of the most widely recognized advantages of physical optics as a simulation technology is the breadth of information it can provide about a system. The vectorial nature of the electromagnetic field, and the very often complex effects that arise from it as the light propagates in a system, are no small part of this consideration. That is why in VirtualLab Fusion we always work with the full vector field information.

Below you can find some illustrative examples that showcase the potential of VirtualLab Fusion in situations specifically related to polarization and vectorial effects.