What is the future for beam propagation methods?

Benson, T. and Hu, B and Vukovic, A. and Sewell, P. (2004) What is the future for beam propagation methods? Proceedings of SPIE, 5579. ISSN 0277-786X

Abstract

Beam propagation methods, BPM, have found widespread use for the design of optoelectronic devices and components. By making physically consistent approximations, BPM techniques require significantly less computationally resources than many other alternative approaches. In this paper we review the role of BPM, consider its present day limitations and discuss the issues that need to be addressed if BPM is to move forward in the future.