Meep: A flexible free-software package for electromagnetic simulations by the FDTD method

Abstract

This paper describes Meep, a popular free implementation of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for simulating electromagnetism. In particular, we focus on aspects of implementing a full-featured FDTD package that go beyond standard textbook descriptions of the algorithm, or ways in which Meep differs from typical FDTD implementations. These include pervasive interpolation and accurate modeling of subpixel features, advanced signal processing, support for nonlinear materials via Padé approximants, and flexible scripting capabilities. Program summary Program title: Meep Catalogue identifier: AEFU_v1_0 Program summary URL:: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEFU_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU GPL No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 151 821 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 925 774 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C++ Computer: Any computer with a Unix-like system and a C++ compiler; optionally exploits additional free software packages: GNU Guile [1], libctl interface library [2], HDF5 [3], MPI message-passing interface [4], and Harminv filter-diagonalization [5]. Developed on 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Operating system: Any Unix-like system; developed under Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.2. RAM: Problem dependent (roughly 100 bytes per pixel/voxel) Classification: 10 External routines: Optionally exploits additional free software packages: GNU Guile [1], libctl interface library [2], HDF5 [3], MPI message-passing interface [4], and Harminv filter-diagonalization [5] (which requires LAPACK and BLAS linear-algebra software [6]). Nature of problem: Classical electrodynamics Solution method: Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method Running time: Problem dependent (typically about 10 ns per pixel per timestep)