Comment on "Fast and accurate electromagnetic field calculation for substrate-supported metasurfaces using the...

Area of Science:

• Computational electromagnetics
• Metasurface analysis
• Numerical methods

Background:

• Liu and McLeod proposed an efficient method for calculating the Green function in multilayered systems for metasurface analysis.
• The discrete dipole approximation (DDA) is a common numerical technique for simulating electromagnetic properties of nanostructures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the novelty and efficiency of the Green function computation method presented by Liu and McLeod.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of existing, optimized methods for Green function calculation in multilayered systems.

Main Methods:

• Review and citation of established approaches for computing the Green function in stratified media.
• Comparison of the proposed method with existing, optimized algorithms available in open-source DDA software.

Main Results:

• The method presented by Liu and McLeod is based on techniques known for over twenty years.
• Existing optimized versions of these techniques are readily available in open-source DDA codes.
• These established methods offer more efficient solutions to the computational challenges discussed.

Conclusions:

• The computational approach for Green function calculation in multilayered systems is not a new development.
• Researchers should be aware of and utilize existing, more efficient, and optimized open-source DDA implementations.
• The comment provides a valuable resource by recalling and referencing relevant prior work in the field.