Fast modal simulation of paraxial optical systems: the MIST open source toolbox

This paper presents a new approach to the simulation of optical laser systems in the paraxial approximation, with particular applications to interferometric gravitational wave detectors. The method presented here is based on a standard decomposition of the laser field in terms of Hermite–Gauss transverse modes. The innovative feature consists of a symbolic manipulation of the equations describing the field propagation. This approach allows a huge reduction in the computational time, especially when a large number of higher order modes is needed to properly simulate the system. The new algorithm has been implemented in an open source toolbox, called the MIST, based on the MATLAB® environment. The MIST has been developed and is being used in the framework of the design of advanced gravitational wave detectors. Examples from this field of application will be discussed to illustrate the capabilities and performance of the simulation tool. (paper)