Beams and focusing
Gaussian Beam Calculator
Rayleigh range, divergence, beam radius at any distance and focused spot size
Interactive
Tools
38 interactive calculators for common photonics math, grouped by subject. Every tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored.
Beams, imaging and diffraction
Imaging and diffraction
Airy Disk Calculator
Airy disk size, encircled energy and the Rayleigh resolution limit
Imaging and diffraction
Diffraction Grating Calculator
Diffraction angles, dispersion and resolving power of a grating
Imaging and diffraction
Depth of Field Calculator
Depth of field and hyperfocal distance for cameras and microscope objectives
Imaging and diffraction
Slit Diffraction Calculator
Minima, fringe spacing and intensity pattern for one, two or many slits
Imaging and diffraction
Thin Lens Calculator
Image distance, magnification and image type for one lens or a pair
Optical alignment
Fiber Coupling Efficiency Calculator
Coupling efficiency of a laser beam into single-mode fiber, with alignment offsets
Refraction, polarization and coatings
Optical materials
Refractive Index Calculator
Refractive index, group index and dispersion of common optical materials
Optical materials
Snell's Law Calculator
Refracted, critical and Brewster angles, with Fresnel reflectance
Optical materials
Fresnel Equations Calculator
Reflectance and phase for s and p light, including metals and absorbing media
Polarization
Jones Calculus Calculator
Output polarization and transmitted intensity through polarizers and waveplates
Optical coatings
AR Coating Thickness Calculator
Quarter-wave AR layer thickness, ideal film index and residual reflectance
Optical coatings
Thin-Film Reflectance Calculator
Reflectance and transmittance of any thin-film stack versus wavelength and angle
Lasers and resonators
Laser characterization
T₀ Extraction Calculator
T₀ and I₀ from threshold current measured at several temperatures
Laser characterization
Wall-Plug Efficiency Calculator
Wall-plug efficiency at each LIV point, and the current where it peaks
Laser characterization
Junction Temperature Calculator
Laser junction temperature rise and thermal resistance from a wavelength shift
Laser characterization
Pulsed Laser Calculator
Pulse energy, peak power, fluence and peak intensity from average power
Laser characterization
Coherence Length Calculator
Coherence time and length from a linewidth, fringe visibility and OCT axial resolution
Resonators
Fabry-Perot Cavity Calculator
Free spectral range, finesse, linewidth and Q of a two-mirror cavity
Fiber, telecom and receivers
Fiber and telecom
Dispersion and Pulse Broadening Calculator
Pulse broadening and the dispersion-limited reach of single-mode fiber
Fiber and telecom
OSNR and Noise Figure Calculator
OSNR after a chain of amplified spans, and cascaded noise figure
Fiber and telecom
DWDM Channel Grid Calculator
ITU DWDM channel frequencies and wavelengths, and the nearest channel
Fiber and telecom
Fiber Numerical Aperture and V Number Calculator
Fiber NA, acceptance angle, V number, cutoff wavelength and mode field diameter
Fiber and telecom
Fiber Latency Calculator
Delay per km, one-way and round-trip latency, hollow-core saving and OTDR length error
Datacenter optics
PAM4 Eye & TDECQ Explorer
TDECQ of a 200G-per-lane PAM4 eye through the reference receiver and equalizer
Datacenter optics
Datacenter Link Budget Explorer
Loss margin, dispersion spread and energy per bit of datacenter optical links
Detectors and noise
Photodiode Noise Calculator
Receiver SNR, noise-equivalent power and minimum detectable power
Integrated photonics
PIC design
Bragg Wavelength Calculator
Bragg wavelength from grating period and effective index, or the period for a wavelength
PIC design
Waveguide Mode Explorer
Guided modes, effective index and cutoff thickness of a slab waveguide
PIC design
Directional Coupler and MZI Calculator
Coupler split ratio and crossover length, and MZI free spectral range
PIC characterization
Q Factor to Propagation Loss Converter
Waveguide propagation loss in dB/cm from a ring resonator's intrinsic Q, and back
PIC characterization
Ring Resonator Explorer
Ring resonator spectrum, Q, coupling and loss, and fits to a measured scan
PIC characterization
Grating Coupler Spectrum Fitter
Center wavelength, insertion loss and bandwidth from a grating coupler scan
PIC characterization
Vπ Fitter
Vπ, VπL, extinction ratio and bias point from a modulator bias sweep
Silicon modulators
Plasma Dispersion Calculator
Index and absorption change in silicon from free-carrier density
Units and conversions
Units and conversions
Photonics Unit Converter
dBm to mW, dB to linear ratio, wavelength to frequency, and linewidth units
Units and conversions
Wavelength Calculator
Wavelength, frequency, photon energy and wavenumber from any one of them
Units and conversions
Optical Density Calculator
OD, transmission and dB, filter stacks, and Beer-Lambert absorbance