Linux/OS: Windows: Documentation:

Picwriter (Photonic-Integrated-Circuit Writer) is a Python module, built above the gdspy module, aimed at simplifying the process of designing complex masks for photonic integrated circuits through a prebuilt library of easy-to-implement PCells (technically all sub-classes of the gdspy Cell class). Supported blocks currently include:

• waveguides (strip, slot, and sub-wavelength grating)
• grating couplers (straight and focusing)
• tapers
• strip to slot waveguide mode converters
• directional couplers
• spiral structures (auto-generated from specified waveguide length)
• 1x2 multi-mode interferometers
• 2x2 multi-mode interferometers
• ring & disk resonators with automatic bus waveguide wrapping
• distributed bragg reflectors
• Mach-Zehnder interferometers
• alignment markers (for photolithography and ebeam lithography)
• metal routes
• bond pads

Stay tuned, more components are coming soon! In the meantime, check out the documentation for this project at picwriter.readthedocs.io.

The ultimate goal of this module is to reduce the time required to generate photonic integrated circuit mask designs, by extending the functionality of the gdspy library.

• High-level specification of common building blocks for photonic-integrated circuits
• Fabrication specific masks. Specify the photoresist type ('+' or '-') and fabrication type (such as 'ETCH') and PICwriter will generate the appropriate mask files for electron-beam or photolithography.
• All library components are subclasses of the gdspy Cell class, so gdspy Cell features such as rotation(), copy(), flatten(), get_bounding_box(), etc. are all supported.
• Unique cell identifiers. Add components to your mask layout without worrying about name-clashes.

With a working version of python, all dependencies should be automatically installed through the instructions below.

• Python (tested with versions 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 for Linux/OS, tested with versions 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 2.7-x64, 3.4-x64, 3.5-x64, 3.6-x64 for Windows.)
• gdspy (tested with versions 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6)
• Numpy
• UUID
• SciPy
• Python-future (only for Python 2)

Both options should automatically install all dependencies (like gdspy, numpy, etc.).

Option 1: using pip:

pip install picwriter

Option 2: download the source from github and build/install with:

python setup.py install

The best way of obtaining the library is by installing the prebuilt binaries.

• First, go to the gdspy appveyor project page, then click the python environment that matches your python version and processor type. For example, if you have a 64-bit processor with Python version 3.5 (you can check by running python --version in a command prompt) then you would click 'PYTHON=C:\Python35-x64'. Then, click the Artifacts tab and download the corresponding dist\gdspy-1.X.X.X.whl wheel file.
• Open up a command prompt (type cmd in the search bar), navigate to your downloads, then install via:

pip install dist\gdspy-1.X.X.X.whl

• Next, install the PICwriter library by following the same procedure as before at the picwriter appveyor page to install the corresponding prebuilt picwriter .whl file.
• In a command prompt, navigate to your downloads and install with pip:

pip install dist\picwriter-1.X.X.X.whl

Building from source is also possible. For installing gdspy, an appropriate build environment is required for compilation of the C extension modules.