Qubit lattice algorithm simulations of Maxwell’s equations for scattering from anisotropic dielectric objects

A Dyson map explicitly determines the appropriate basis of electromagnetic fields which yields a unitary representation of the Maxwell equations in an inhomogeneous medium. A qubit lattice algorithm (QLA) is then developed perturbatively to solve this representation of Maxwell equations. A QLA consists of an interleaved unitary sequence of collision operators (that entangle on lattice-site qubits) and streaming operators (that move this entanglement throughout the lattice). External potential operators are introduced to handle gradients in the refractive indices, and these operators are typically non-unitary but sparse matrices. By also interleaving the external potential operators with the unitary collide-stream operators, one achieves a QLA which conserves energy to high accuracy. Some two dimensional simulations results are presented for the scattering of a one-dimensional (1D) pulse off a localized anisotropic dielectric object. •Developed a theoretic technique, through the Dyson map, to develop(continuum) unitary evolution algorithms for Maxwell equations in anisotropic tensor dielectric media.•In the discrete representation determined a qubit lattice algorithm (QLA) that in the continuum limit the system of pde’s of interest.•The collide-stream aspect of the qubit lattice algorithm is fully unitary, but to recover the full pde’s we introduced sparse non-unitary operators to 2nd order.•Even though div B = 0 is not explicitly imposed, the 2D QLA algorithm picks up this constraint automatically for certain polarization.•Conservation of Energy is verified.