GPU-accelerated T-matrix algorithm for light-scattering simulations

Modern graphical processing units (GPUs) have recently become a pervasive technology able to rapidly solve large parallel problems which previously required runs on clusters or supercomputers. In this paper we propose an effective strategy to parallelize the T-matrix method on GPUs in order to speed-up light scattering simulations. We have tackled two of the most computationally intensive scattering problems that are of interest in nano-optics: the scattering from an isolated non-axisymmetric particle and from an agglomerate of arbitrary shaped particles. We show that fully exploiting the GPU potential we can achieve more than 20 times (20×) acceleration over sequential execution in the investigated scenarios, opening exciting prospectives in the analysis and the design of optical nanostructures.