Photonics on Dr. Simon Bance https://academic.bancey.com/tags/photonics/ Recent content in Photonics on Dr. Simon Bance Hugo en Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:22:09 +0200 Enter the Scattering Matrix https://academic.bancey.com/posts/scattering-matrices/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:22:09 +0200 https://academic.bancey.com/posts/scattering-matrices/ <h1 id="the-amazing-world-of-scattering-matrices">The Amazing World of Scattering Matrices</h1> <p>When starting to use Lumerical INTERCONNECT (or rival circuit-level simulation tools), the tutorials make clear enough the basic mechanics of the approach:</p> <ol> <li>Simulate a component in FDTD or MODE.</li> <li>Export an S-parameter file.</li> <li>Import it into INTERCONNECT.</li> <li>Build a larger photonic circuit.</li> </ol> <p>The workflow makes sense, but it often feels like we need a more satisfying answer to a simple question:</p> <blockquote> <p>What exactly is being stored in an S-matrix?</p> Don't Beta Around the Bush: Understanding the Propagation Constant https://academic.bancey.com/posts/propagation-constant/ Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:19:46 +0200 https://academic.bancey.com/posts/propagation-constant/ Building intuition for the propagation constant β and its relationship to effective index, phase accumulation, and optical interference.