The Amazing World of Scattering Matrices When starting to use Lumerical INTERCONNECT (or rival circuit-level simulation tools), the tutorials make clear enough the basic mechanics of the approach: Simulate a component in FDTD or MODE. Export an S-parameter file. Import it into INTERCONNECT. Build a larger photonic circuit. The workflow makes sense, but it often feels like we need a more satisfying answer to a simple question: What exactly is being stored in an S-matrix? ...

Building intuition for the propagation constant β and its relationship to effective index, phase accumulation, and optical interference.

Snell’s Law is often introduced as a formula to memorize. In reality, it captures a deep physical principle about how light chooses its path when moving between materials.

I am pleased to announce that my PhD thesis, titled “Data Storage and Processing using Magnetic Nanowires” is now available online at the White Rose eTheses Online. In it I investigate the switching dynamics of Domain Wall Trap Magnetic Random Access Memory (DWT-MRAM). Later I take a thorough look into Spin Wave propagation along permalloy nanowires.

I’ve been using VBA to generate pivot tables in Excel for a few years now, and I’ve found it to be a very powerful tool. I can use VBA to quickly and easily create pivot tables that summarize large amounts of data. I can also use VBA to update pivot tables as my data changes. In this blog post, I’ll show you how I use VBA to generate pivot tables. I’ll start by explaining what pivot tables are and why they are useful. Then, I’ll show you how to create a pivot table using VBA. Finally, I’ll show you how to update a pivot table using VBA. ...

Many eInk devices now available Much has happened in the world of eReaders since my original blog posts highlighting the need for more 13.3" eReaders and it’s now more than 7 years since I bought my 9.7" Onyx Boox M96. There are now many 13.3" options available as well as 10.3" devices. I won’t go into details here or plug any particular manufacturers; a quick search on YouTube will present you with many up to date reviews and comparisons. ...

I recently had the honour of giving an invited talk on Heat-assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) at the Ex-Spring Industrial Conclave which was hosted by Exeter University. Apart from introducing the magnetic recording paradigms (LMR, PMR and HAMR) and emphasizing the need for energy-assisted magnetic recording in order to continue areal density growth, I shared details on the HAMR recording physics and highlighted challenges that have been overcome in the last few years in order to bring HAMR to product. ...