RCWA Simulation Control Panel #

This section introduces the simulation control panel for the Rigorous Coupled‑Wave Analysis (RCWA) solver.

The RCWA solver is a semi‑analytical simulation tool based on rigorous coupled‑wave analysis. It is used to efficiently and accurately analyze the optical response of multi‑layer structures with in-plane periodic patterns (such as diffraction gratings, metasurfaces, and photonic crystals) under plane‑wave incidence, including reflectance, transmittance, diffraction efficiency, and internal field distributions.

The functions of each button on the control panel are shown in the figure below:

	Name	Description
Design	To Design	Switch back to the Design view to access tools for structure creation and solver settings, etc.
Graphics	Translucent	Set the transparency of the structure; 1 means opaque, 0 means fully transparent.
	Hide Materials	Hide the material structure in the view; enabled when checked.
	Hide Fields	Hide the field distribution in the view; enabled when checked.
Progress	Status	Display the current simulation status and progress.
	Tool	Control the opening and clearing of simulation data files.

RCWA Ribbon #

The RCWA ribbon provides simulation run control and component addition functions. The functions of each button are shown in the figure below:

	Name	Description
Run	To Run	Run the RCWA simulation and automatically switch to the simulation control panel.
Monitors	RCWA Field	Add an RCWA Field component to record the spatial distribution of the electromagnetic field within the simulation region.
Mesh	Mesh	Add a custom mesh to apply finer mesh refinement to specific regions.

RCWA Field #

RCWA Field records the spatial distribution of the electromagnetic field within the simulation region. After the simulation completes, the internal field distribution of the multilayer structure can be viewed through this component, facilitating analysis of how the optical field propagates and localizes within the structure.

After clicking the RCWA Field button to add the component, configure the settings in the pop-up Edit properties window, which contains the General and Geometry tabs.

• The General tab is used to set the field components to be recorded.

• The Geometry tab is used to set the position and extent of the recording region, as well as the number of mesh points in each direction.

The figure below shows the field distribution above a nanorod structure under plane-wave incidence:

Mesh #

The Mesh button is used to add a custom mesh within the RCWA simulation region, applying finer mesh refinement to specific regions. For detailed settings of the custom mesh, please refer to Custom Mesh Settings.