Consulting > Services > Modeling

Modeling of Optical Devices and Systems

A special strength of RP Photonics is the highly developed ability to model the physical details of systems such as lasers or fiber amplifiers. This makes it easier to optimize product designs, analyze problems, and explore limits – and this in a very reliable and cost-effective manner.

What is a Model?

A model is a simplified description of some physical system. Usually it involves mathematical relations between different physical variables and parameters. Such relations can be investigated either with analytical tools (i.e. with mathematical methods based on equations and alike), with numerical tools (usually computer software), or with a combination of both.

How a Model Can Help You

A model can be an extremely valuable tool to ensure fast and cost-efficient progress in development and problem solving.

As an example, a model for some laser device may bring you the following benefits:

• It helps you to optimize the laser design so as to obtain maximum performance, minimum sensitivity to detrimental influences (e.g. component or alignment tolerances), and minimum parts and space requirements.
• It helps to find out how strongly certain detrimental influences really affect the performance of your device, so that you can concentrate on the real issues rather than wasting time and money with measures which won't help that much.
• It gives access to parameters which can hardly be experimentally measured, and supports the study of their dependencies.

The modeling skills of Dr. Paschotta are certainly one of the crucial factors behind the success of his research and development activities. Utilize this experience for your own business!

Conditions for Successful Modeling

The ultimate criterion for success of modeling should be usefulness, rather than e.g. some technical detail. Is modeling always useful? For sure not! For successful modeling, the following is required:

• the experience to judge before investing the time whether modeling can help in a certain case
• a decent understanding of the physics of your device or problem
• a competent decision on which aspects should be included and which ones shouldn't
• certain mathematical skills
• suitable software and/or programming skills
• reliable techniques for validation
  (Wrong results may be worse than none at all!)
• last, but not least: the ability to generate useful and correct answers using the model.
  This is where many modeling projects fail!

What RP Photonics Can Offer

In many years of research, Dr. Paschotta has developed a deep expertise in modeling of lasers, amplifiers, nonlinear optical devices, fiber devices, multilayer structures and others. Using this experience, RP Photonics can offer the following:

• Competent advice on where modeling can help you, what type of model to use, what you can expect from it, and where you should not invest.
• Efficient generation and reliable validation of a model which is tailored your needs. RP Photonics has powerful software to perform such tasks quickly and reliably. And for many tasks, suitable models are available already.
• The systematic exploitation of a model for formulating and answering questions which benefit your project. The results are delivered in high-quality reports with precise and understandable explanations.
• In some cases, RP Photonics may also offer software licenses, allowing the customer's staff working with the software themselves.

RP Photonics can do much more for your business than any software could do. You can not only quickly obtain calculated results, but also profit from an invaluable expertise, which helps you to reach your technological goals most efficient.

About Cost and Efficiency

If you are concerned about the cost, keep in mind the following:

• Setting up a useful model takes some time and money, but compare this with the cost of a trial-and-error approach, often leading to non-ideal technical solutions, spoiled parts, waiting customers, the waste of expensive working time and poor use of your infrastructure. Whether your company is large or small – what you can not afford is to choose the less efficient solution!
• Using a model is not always helpful and efficient. It takes a lot of experience to decide where a certain kind of model can be useful, how to set it up correctly and how to produce useful answers with it. Take care that a real expert is doing this work!

Finally, be assured that Dr. Paschotta will tell you in case that for some reason modeling is not the right approach in your case.