Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1063/5.0321128

Publication Title

AIP Advances

Volume

16

Issue

4

Pages

045015

Abstract

Qubit lattice algorithm (QLA) simulations are performed for a two-dimensional spatially bounded pulse propagating onto a plane interface between two dielectric slabs. QLA is an initial value scheme that consists of a sequence of unitary collision and streaming operators, with appropriate potential operators, that recover Maxwell equations in inhomogeneous dielectric media to the second order in the lattice discreteness. For the case of total internal reflection, there is transient energy transfer into the second medium due to the evanescent fields as the Poynting unit vector of the pulse is rotated from its incident to reflected direction. Because of the finite spatial extent of the pulse, a self-consistent Goos–Hanchen-type displacement along the interface is found without imposing any explicit interface boundary conditions on the fields. For normal incidence, the standard Fresnel coefficients are recovered for appropriately averaged QLA fields. Energy is conserved at all times to seven significant figures.

Rights

© 2026 The Authors.

All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

Data Availability

Article states: "The data that support the findings of this study are available within the article."

Original Publication Citation

Soe, M., Vahala, G., Vahala, L., Koukoutsis, E., Ram, A. K., & Hizanidis, K. (2026). Qubit lattice algorithm simulations of the scattering of a bounded two dimensional electromagnetic pulse from an infinite planar dielectric interface. AIP Advances, 16(4), Article 045015. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0321128

ORCID

0000-0003-2704-5316 (Vahala)

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