Computation of Maxwell’s transmission eigenvalues and its applications in inverse medium problems

Abstract

We present an iterative method to compute the Maxwell’s transmission eigenvalue problem which has importance in non-destructive testing of anisotropic materials. The transmission eigenvalue problem is first written as a quad-curl eigenvalue problem. Then we show that the real transmission eigenvalues are the roots of a nonlinear function whose value is the generalized eigenvalue of a related self-adjoint quad-curl eigenvalue problem which is computed using a mixed finite element method. A secant method is used to compute the roots of the nonlinear function. Numerical examples are presented to validate the method. Moreover, the method is employed to study the dependence of the transmission eigenvalue on the anisotropy and to reconstruct the index of refraction of an inhomogeneous medium.