With the growing interest in photonic technologies, effective numerical modelling is of great importance; as fabrication and modelling of microscale photonic structures are challenging due to their small length scales. In this work, we develop a new meshless method to enhance photonic crystals modelling, and alleviate the shortcomings of the traditional mesh-based methods.
Photonic crystals are highly ordered and repetitive structures which affect the way light moves through them. Similar periodic arrangements are found in nature, e.g., in the wings of the Blue Morpho butterfly. Photonic crystals applications range from potential uses in optical communications, computer engineering, solar cells, lenses, and variable colour paints and inks.
In this work, we formulate and test new meshless methods for enhancing photonic crystals (PhCs) modelling. From an initial background study of the field, we detail the Maxwell equations, which govern the interaction of the light with the photonic crystal, and show how photonic band gaps may arise. We present a novel meshless weak-strong form method with reduced computational cost and improved accuracy for photonic band gap calculations. From this work, meshless methods are found to be a promising alternative scheme for predicting /enhancing photonic band gaps calculations.
Throughout the work we demonstrate the application of cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing to the development and verification of algorithms for physical simulations.
