Optiwave

| Feature | Optiwave (OptiSystem) | Lumerical (INTERCONNECT) | VPIphotonics | |--------|----------------------|--------------------------|---------------| | | Excellent for multi-span, amplified, coherent links | Good for PICs + lasers, less mature fiber model | Very strong for submarine & long-haul | | PIC layout & FDTD | Weak (no built-in FDTD) | Best-in-class (FDTD, EME, varFDTD) | Moderate | | Electronic-photonic co-sim | OptiSPICE (native) | Through Cadence/Keysight integration | Limited | | Learning curve | Gentle (GUI-first, block diagrams) | Steep (scripting in Lua/Python) | Moderate | | Cost (academic) | ~$5k–$10k per tool | ~$15k–$30k per tool | ~$20k+ |