CAMFR Home Page

CAMFR (CAvity Modelling FRamework) is a fast, flexible, friendly full-vectorial Maxwell solver. Its main focus is on applications in the field of nanophotonics, like

wavelength-scale microstructures (like photonic crystal devices)
lasers (like vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers)
light-emitting diodes (like resonant-cavity LEDs)

It is based on a combination of eigenmode expansion and advanced boundary conditions like perfectly matched layers (PML).

Features

CAMFR is an ongoing active research project, started at the photonics group of the Department of Information Technology (INTEC) at Ghent University in Belgium. This means that it contains many attractive features and algorithms currently not yet found in commercial modelling tools. CAMFR can be used to calculate

the scattering matrix of a structure
the field inside a structure, for any given excitation
band diagrams of an infinite periodic structure
threshold material gain and resonance wavelength of laser modes
the response to a current source in an arbitrary cavity
structures terminated by a semi-infinite repetition of another structure

This functionality is currently available for two types of geometries:

2D Cartesian structures
3D cylindrical symmetric structures

Additionally, there is code to model the extraction from light emitting diodes, either planar devices, or 3D devices which incorporate 2D periodic structures.

Defining structures is quite straightforward, either layer-by-layer, or using geometric primitive shapes. There are also integrated plotting routines for rapid simulation feedback.

Framework character

CAMFR is conceived as a C++ framework, with all the algorithms implemented in terms of abstract waveguides and scatterers. This makes it extremely easy to extend CAMFR to new geometries.

The end user does not deal with this C++ code directly, but rather through bindings to the Python scripting language. This makes the code very clear and flexible, and allows e.g. to seamlessly integrate CAMFR with Python-aware visualistion tools.

License and support

CAMFR is being distributed under a dual license scheme. All the code is released under the GPL, but we also provide a closed proprietary license scheme. Contact us for more information, including on support contracts.

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Last updated 2007/08/17 by webmaster.