Rigorous modeling of dispersive, reflective, and polarization prisms

The prism belongs to an important group of optical components in optical systems design. It is not only capable for separate uses, but also can be embedded into complicated and sophisticated devices as a component, such as spectroscopy, microscopy, and ultrashort pulse systems. We discuss a fast and rigorous modeling approach to treat with prism simulations. Based on electromagnetic concepts the effects of different surfaces and the propagation inside prism are considered respectively. The appropriate handling and dynamic adaptation of coordinate systems for describing the modeling as well as the light itself turns out to be crucial for this approach. By using this method, we simulate three types of prisms: dispersive prism, reflective prism and polarization beam splitter.