Thin Films and Multilayers¶

Optical thin films and multilayers are fundamental components in nanooptics, influencing how light interacts with surfaces and structures. These structures are engineered to control reflection, transmission, and absorption properties. By manipulating the optical properties through precise control of film thickness and material composition, we can optimise their function in a variety of applications.

Multilayers, material stacks, or layered media are terms used for material systems consisting of planar layers of materials varying only along one axis. In these simplified 1D geometries, semi-analytical methods can be used to calculate the optical fields and their response to plane wave illuminations. JCMsuite supports various ways of modeling these thin films and multilayers. A full finite element discretization is possible, as well as solving coupled systems where a semi-analytical solution of the LayeredMedia is integrated into the FEM domain for more complex geometries and their coupled interactions. In some cases, the optical response of the multilayer is the primary simulation task

This tutorial contains several examples of multilayered structures:

a 1D Thin Film Solar Cell example, located in the Photovoltaics section
a EUV mask on a LayeredMedia multilayer , located in the Photomasks section
a VCSEL, located in the Light Sources section
a 1D PhC crystal band diagram calculation