Distributed Bragg reflector and cavity

A distributed Bragg reflector (opens new window) (DBR) is a multilayer structure consisting of alternating layers of high refractive index and low refractive index. When the thickness of each layer is close to a quarter of the medium wavelength, nearly perfect reflection occurs due to constructive interference of the reflected waves at each layer. DBR is commonly used at optical and UV wavelengths due to the fact that metallic reflectors have a high loss at high frequencies. Besides free space optics, similar concepts have also been applied to integrated photonics and fiber optics. Furthermore, high-Q cavities based on DBR structures are widely popular in lasers, filters, and sensors.

Although Tidy3D uses highly optimized algorithms and hardware designed to perform large 3D simulations at ease, the computational efficiency can be improved exponentially if we can reduce the dimension of the model. The DBR structure has translational symmetry along the two in-plane directions. Thus, simulating a DBR is effectively a 1D problem.

To view the full example in Python, please click here (opens new window).

To view the example in our web GUI, please click here (opens new window).