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Main Authors: Soe, Min, Ram, Abhay K., Koukoutsis, Efstratios, Vahala, George, Vahala, Linda, Hizanidis, Kyriakos
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21128
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author Soe, Min
Ram, Abhay K.
Koukoutsis, Efstratios
Vahala, George
Vahala, Linda
Hizanidis, Kyriakos
author_facet Soe, Min
Ram, Abhay K.
Koukoutsis, Efstratios
Vahala, George
Vahala, Linda
Hizanidis, Kyriakos
contents Quantum computers are ideally set up to solve linear systems which are of a form similar to the Schrodinger/Dirac equation of quantum mechanics. In the framework of linear response theory, the propagation and scattering of electromagnetic waves in a dielectric medium are described by Maxwell equations. The qubit lattice algorithm consists of a series of alternating unitary streaming and entanglement operators acting on qubit amplitudes constructed from the electric and magnetic fields. It is not a direct discretization of Maxwell equations, but recovers the desired equations to second order in lattice grid spacing. The resulting algorithm is implemented on a present-day supercomputer and is the basis of studying scattering of electromagnetic waves by an elliptical dielectric. As opposed to the steady state description of Mie scattering in frequency domain, the temporal evolution provides insights into transient scattering. The QLA simulations, reveal that a spatially localized wave packet propagating past an elliptic dielectric, embedded in vacuum, leads to several reflections generated by wave fields trapped within the dielectric. The physics insight brought forth by these simulations is not apparent from frequency domain studies of scattering. A complimentary simulation on transient scattering of a wave packet by an elliptical vacuum bubble inserted in a uniform dielectric demonstrates a stark contrast with respect to scattering off an elliptical dielectric in vacuum. Essentially, there is only a single internal reflection in which the field amplitudes are significantly smaller than those for side and forward scattering. A simple model based on the Kirchhoff tangent plane approximation helps explain the differences between these two scattering examples.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_21128
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum Computing Framework for Transient Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves by Dielectric Structures
Soe, Min
Ram, Abhay K.
Koukoutsis, Efstratios
Vahala, George
Vahala, Linda
Hizanidis, Kyriakos
Plasma Physics
Quantum computers are ideally set up to solve linear systems which are of a form similar to the Schrodinger/Dirac equation of quantum mechanics. In the framework of linear response theory, the propagation and scattering of electromagnetic waves in a dielectric medium are described by Maxwell equations. The qubit lattice algorithm consists of a series of alternating unitary streaming and entanglement operators acting on qubit amplitudes constructed from the electric and magnetic fields. It is not a direct discretization of Maxwell equations, but recovers the desired equations to second order in lattice grid spacing. The resulting algorithm is implemented on a present-day supercomputer and is the basis of studying scattering of electromagnetic waves by an elliptical dielectric. As opposed to the steady state description of Mie scattering in frequency domain, the temporal evolution provides insights into transient scattering. The QLA simulations, reveal that a spatially localized wave packet propagating past an elliptic dielectric, embedded in vacuum, leads to several reflections generated by wave fields trapped within the dielectric. The physics insight brought forth by these simulations is not apparent from frequency domain studies of scattering. A complimentary simulation on transient scattering of a wave packet by an elliptical vacuum bubble inserted in a uniform dielectric demonstrates a stark contrast with respect to scattering off an elliptical dielectric in vacuum. Essentially, there is only a single internal reflection in which the field amplitudes are significantly smaller than those for side and forward scattering. A simple model based on the Kirchhoff tangent plane approximation helps explain the differences between these two scattering examples.
title Quantum Computing Framework for Transient Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves by Dielectric Structures
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21128