Meep (software)

Last updated
Meep
Developer(s) ab initio research group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Initial release2006;18 years ago (2006)
Stable release
1.28.0 / November 10, 2023;5 months ago (2023-11-10)
Repository github.com/NanoComp/meep
Written in C++
Operating system Linux, macOS
Type Simulation software
License GNU General Public License
Website meep.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Meep (MIT Electromagnetic Equation Propagation) is an free and open-source [1] software package for electromagnetic simulations, developed by ab initio research group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. Operating under Unix-like systems, it uses finite-difference time-domain method with perfectly matched layer or periodic boundary conditions for field computation. [2]

Contents

Meep supports dispersive, nonlinear and anisotropic media, and features subpixel smoothing and parallelization, as well as an embedded frequency-domain solver for steady-state fields and eigenmode expansion. [2] The package was subsequently expanded to include an adjoint solver for topology optimization and inverse design, [3] and a Python interface. [4]

The software is widely adopted by optics and photonics communities, [5] with applications including the analysis and design of metalenses [6] [7] and photonic crystals. [8] [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photonic crystal</span> Periodic optical nanostructure that affects the motion of photons

A photonic crystal is an optical nanostructure in which the refractive index changes periodically. This affects the propagation of light in the same way that the structure of natural crystals gives rise to X-ray diffraction and that the atomic lattices of semiconductors affect their conductivity of electrons. Photonic crystals occur in nature in the form of structural coloration and animal reflectors, and, as artificially produced, promise to be useful in a range of applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metamaterial</span> Materials engineered to have properties that have not yet been found in nature

A metamaterial is any material engineered to have a property that is rarely observed in naturally occurring materials. They are made from assemblies of multiple elements fashioned from composite materials such as metals and plastics. These materials are usually arranged in repeating patterns, at scales that are smaller than the wavelengths of the phenomena they influence. Metamaterials derive their properties not from the properties of the base materials, but from their newly designed structures. Their precise shape, geometry, size, orientation and arrangement gives them their smart properties capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves: by blocking, absorbing, enhancing, or bending waves, to achieve benefits that go beyond what is possible with conventional materials.

The Abraham–Minkowski controversy is a physics debate concerning electromagnetic momentum within dielectric media. Two equations were first suggested by Hermann Minkowski (1908) and Max Abraham (1909) for this momentum. They predict different values, from which the name of the controversy derives. Experimental support has been claimed for both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finite-difference time-domain method</span> Numerical analysis technique

Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) or Yee's method is a numerical analysis technique used for modeling computational electrodynamics. Since it is a time-domain method, FDTD solutions can cover a wide frequency range with a single simulation run, and treat nonlinear material properties in a natural way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computational electromagnetics</span> Branch of physics

Computational electromagnetics (CEM), computational electrodynamics or electromagnetic modeling is the process of modeling the interaction of electromagnetic fields with physical objects and the environment using computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perfectly matched layer</span>

A perfectly matched layer (PML) is an artificial absorbing layer for wave equations, commonly used to truncate computational regions in numerical methods to simulate problems with open boundaries, especially in the FDTD and FE methods. The key property of a PML that distinguishes it from an ordinary absorbing material is that it is designed so that waves incident upon the PML from a non-PML medium do not reflect at the interface—this property allows the PML to strongly absorb outgoing waves from the interior of a computational region without reflecting them back into the interior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extraordinary optical transmission</span>

Extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) is the phenomenon of greatly enhanced transmission of light through a subwavelength aperture in an otherwise opaque metallic film which has been patterned with a regularly repeating periodic structure. Generally when light of a certain wavelength falls on a subwavelength aperture, it is diffracted isotropically in all directions evenly, with minimal far-field transmission. This is the understanding from classical aperture theory as described by Bethe. In EOT however, the regularly repeating structure enables much higher transmission efficiency to occur, up to several orders of magnitude greater than that predicted by classical aperture theory. It was first described in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen Taflove</span> American engineer (1949–2021)

Allen Taflove was a full professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, since 1988. Since 1972, he pioneered basic theoretical approaches, numerical algorithms, and applications of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational solutions of Maxwell's equations. He coined the descriptors "finite difference time domain" and "FDTD" in the 1980 paper, "Application of the finite-difference time-domain method to sinusoidal steady-state electromagnetic penetration problems." In 1990, he was the first person to be named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in the FDTD area. Taflove was the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Electromagnetics Award with the following citation: "For contributions to the development and application of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions of Maxwell's equations across the electromagnetic spectrum." He was a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA). His OSA Fellow citation reads: "For creating the finite-difference time-domain method for the numerical solution of Maxwell's equations, with crucial application to the growth and current state of the field of photonics."

The finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) method is a numerical solution method for problems usually in electromagnetism and sometimes in acoustics, based on finite-difference approximations of the derivative operators in the differential equation being solved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optical rectification</span>

Electro-optic rectification (EOR), also referred to as optical rectification, is a non-linear optical process that consists of the generation of a quasi-DC polarization in a non-linear medium at the passage of an intense optical beam. For typical intensities, optical rectification is a second-order phenomenon which is based on the inverse process of the electro-optic effect. It was reported for the first time in 1962, when radiation from a ruby laser was transmitted through potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) and potassium dideuterium phosphate (KDdP) crystals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subwavelength-diameter optical fibre</span>

A subwavelength-diameter optical fibre is an optical fibre whose diameter is less than the wavelength of the light being propagated through it. An SDF usually consists of long thick parts at both ends, transition regions (tapers) where the fibre diameter gradually decreases down to the subwavelength value, and a subwavelength-diameter waist, which is the main acting part. Due to such a strong geometrical confinement, the guided electromagnetic field in an SDF is restricted to a single mode called fundamental.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photonic metamaterial</span> Type of electromagnetic metamaterial

A photonic metamaterial (PM), also known as an optical metamaterial, is a type of electromagnetic metamaterial, that interacts with light, covering terahertz (THz), infrared (IR) or visible wavelengths. The materials employ a periodic, cellular structure.

An optical transistor, also known as an optical switch or a light valve, is a device that switches or amplifies optical signals. Light occurring on an optical transistor's input changes the intensity of light emitted from the transistor's output while output power is supplied by an additional optical source. Since the input signal intensity may be weaker than that of the source, an optical transistor amplifies the optical signal. The device is the optical analog of the electronic transistor that forms the basis of modern electronic devices. Optical transistors provide a means to control light using only light and has applications in optical computing and fiber-optic communication networks. Such technology has the potential to exceed the speed of electronics, while conserving more power. The fastest demonstrated all-optical switching signal is 900 attoseconds, which paves the way to develop ultrafast optical transistors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvatore Torquato</span> American theoretical scientist

Salvatore Torquato is an American theoretical scientist born in Falerna, Italy. His research work has impacted a variety of fields, including physics, chemistry, applied and pure mathematics, materials science, engineering, and biological physics. He is the Lewis Bernard Professor of Natural Sciences in the department of chemistry and Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials at Princeton University. He has been a senior faculty fellow in the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, an enterprise dedicated to exploring frontiers across the theoretical natural sciences. He is also an associated faculty member in three departments or programs at Princeton University: physics, applied and computational mathematics, and mechanical and aerospace engineering. On multiple occasions, he was a member of the schools of mathematics and natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electromagnetic metasurface</span>

An electromagnetic metasurface refers to a kind of artificial sheet material with sub-wavelength thickness. Metasurfaces can be either structured or unstructured with subwavelength-scaled patterns in the horizontal dimensions.

Boson sampling is a restricted model of non-universal quantum computation introduced by Scott Aaronson and Alex Arkhipov after the original work of Lidror Troyansky and Naftali Tishby, that explored possible usage of boson scattering to evaluate expectation values of permanents of matrices. The model consists of sampling from the probability distribution of identical bosons scattered by a linear interferometer. Although the problem is well defined for any bosonic particles, its photonic version is currently considered as the most promising platform for a scalable implementation of a boson sampling device, which makes it a non-universal approach to linear optical quantum computing. Moreover, while not universal, the boson sampling scheme is strongly believed to implement computing tasks which are hard to implement with classical computers by using far fewer physical resources than a full linear-optical quantum computing setup. This advantage makes it an ideal candidate for demonstrating the power of quantum computation in the near term.

Integrated quantum photonics, uses photonic integrated circuits to control photonic quantum states for applications in quantum technologies. As such, integrated quantum photonics provides a promising approach to the miniaturisation and scaling up of optical quantum circuits. The major application of integrated quantum photonics is Quantum technology:, for example quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum simulation, quantum walks and quantum metrology.

Photonic topological insulators are artificial electromagnetic materials that support topologically non-trivial, unidirectional states of light. Photonic topological phases are classical electromagnetic wave analogues of electronic topological phases studied in condensed matter physics. Similar to their electronic counterparts, they, can provide robust unidirectional channels for light propagation.

Diffusion metamaterials are a subset of the metamaterial family, which primarily comprises thermal metamaterials, particle diffusion metamaterials, and plasma diffusion metamaterials. Currently, thermal metamaterials play a pivotal role within the realm of diffusion metamaterials. The applications of diffusion metamaterials span various fields, including heat management, chemical sensing, and plasma control, offering capabilities that surpass those of traditional materials and devices.

References

  1. "Meep: License and Copyright". meep.readthedocs.io. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Oskooi, Ardavan F.; Roundy, David; Ibanescu, Mihai; Bermel, Peter; Joannopoulos, J.D.; Johnson, Steven G. (March 2010). "Meep: A flexible free-software package for electromagnetic simulations by the FDTD method". Computer Physics Communications . 181 (3): 687–702. doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2009.11.008.
  3. Hammond, Alec M.; Oskooi, Ardavan; Chen, Mo; Lin, Zin; Johnson, Steven G.; Ralph, Stephen E. (2022). "High-performance hybrid time/frequency-domain topology optimization for large-scale photonics inverse design". Optics Express . 30 (3): 4467–4491. doi:10.1364/OE.442074.
  4. "Meep: FAQ". meep.readthedocs.io. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  5. McCoy, Dakota E.; Shneidman, Anna V.; Davis, Alexander L.; Aizenberg, Joanna (December 2021). "Finite-difference Time-domain (FDTD) Optical Simulations: A Primer for the Life Sciences and Bio-Inspired Engineering". Micron . 151: 103160. doi:10.1016/j.micron.2021.103160.
  6. Arbabi, Amir; Horie, Yu; Ball, Alexander J.; Bagheri, Mahmood; Faraon, Andrei (2015). "Subwavelength-thick lenses with high numerical apertures and large efficiency based on high-contrast transmitarrays". Nature Communications . 6: 7069. doi:10.1038/ncomms8069.
  7. Zhou, You; Zheng, Hanyu; Kravchenko, Ivan I.; Valentine, Jason (2020). "Flat optics for image differentiation". Nature Photonics . 14: 316–323. doi:10.1038/s41566-020-0591-3.
  8. Goban, A.; Hung, C.-L.; Hood, J. D.; Yu, S.-P.; Muniz, J. A.; Painter, O.; Kimble, H. J. (August 2015). "Superradiance for Atoms Trapped along a Photonic Crystal Waveguide". Physical Review Letters . 115 (6): 063601. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.063601.
  9. Wu, Long-Hua; Hu, Xiao (June 2015). "Scheme for Achieving a Topological Photonic Crystal by Using Dielectric Material". Physical Review Letters . 114 (22): 223901. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.223901.