RSoft Software Assists Optical Engineering Students

DALLAS, Sept. 19 -- Students working toward an MS in optical engineering at Sonoma State University are participating in a unique learning experience using RSoft Design Group’s physical layer software.

Sonoma State purchased RSoft’s BeamPROP, FullWAVE and LinkSIM software solutions to help students understand the design and analysis of passive and active integrated optical components and optical communications systems. Students perform real-life simulations and analyses to augment their conceptual understanding of photonic structures. The school opened a state-of-the-art photonics lab last month, enabling students to incorporate their lab and lecture work in a single setting.

"Our goal is to enrich the learning experience of our students with hands-on laboratory experiments by combining real world devices with RSoft’s design tools," said Dr. Bryant Hichwa, director of photonics laboratories at Sonoma State. "Our students can now fully explore various 'what if' experiments using RSoft’s software and then verify their predictions in the lab."

Sonoma State has also invited RSoft experts to lecture on various topics. Michael Steel, senior scientist for RSoft, will present a lecture on photonic crystals. Steel is the principal developer of RSoft’s new BandSOLVE software, a tool for the design and modeling of photonic crystal structures, which is used both by academic researchers in universities and laboratories as well as by commercial researchers and fabricators of PC components.