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 (20x) acceleration over sequential execution in the investigated scenarios, opening exciting prospectives in the analysis and the design of optical nanostructures.