Efficient simulation of millimeter-scale complex-modulated integrated Bragg gratings via hierarchical locally periodic eigenmode expansion
We propose a structure-aware, hierarchical locally periodic eigenmode expansion (HLP-EME) framework for efficiently simulating millimeter-scale integrated Bragg gratings (IBGs) with complex modulation on silicon-on-insulator platforms. HLP-EME discretizes continuously varying grating parameter profiles into piecewise-constant blocks and exploits the resulting local periodicity of the physical grating structure by reusing the S-matrix of a representative period within each block. This strategy reduces full-device simulation times for millimeter-scale IBGs to a few minutes, providing a speedup exceeding three orders of magnitude over conventional 3D-FDTD simulations. The method accommodates diverse IBG configurations, including intra-mode gratings, mode-converting multimode gratings and grating-assisted contra-directional couplers. Experimental results validate the predicted reflection spectra of several complex-modulated IBGs and the reflection phase response of one representative design. The framework is further extended to curved waveguides and successfully captures curvature-induced spectral distortions in millimeter-long, Gaussian-apodized spiral IBGs. Combining full-vectorial modeling with high computational efficiency, HLP-EME provides a powerful tool for designing and optimizing long, complex IBG-based photonic devices.