User Guide for the Discrete Dipole Approximation Code DDSCAT.6.0

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive user guide for DDSCAT.6.0, a versatile software implementing the discrete dipole approximation for electromagnetic scattering calculations on targets of arbitrary shape and composition.

Contribution

It introduces DDSCAT.6.0 with new features like MPI support, FFTW integration, and enhanced target geometry options, facilitating accurate and efficient scattering simulations.

Findings

Supports complex target geometries and materials

Includes parallel processing capabilities

Provides detailed computational requirements

Abstract

DDSCAT.6.0 is a freely available software package (http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~draine/DDSCAT.6.0.html) which applies the "discrete dipole approximation" (DDA) to calculate scattering and absorption of electromagnetic waves by targets with arbitrary geometries and complex refractive index. DDSCAT.6.0 allows accurate calculations of electromagnetic scattering from targets with ``size parameters'' 2*pi*a/lambda < 15 provided the refractive index m is not large compared to unity (|m-1| < 1). DDSCAT.6.0 includes the option of using the FFTW (Fastest Fourier Transform in the West) package. DDSCAT.6.0 also includes MPI support, permitting parallel calculations on multiprocessor systems. DDSCAT package is written in Fortran and is highly portable. The program supports calculations for a variety of target geometries (e.g., ellipsoids, regular tetrahedra, rectangular solids, finite cylinders, hexagonal prisms, etc.). Target materials may be both inhomogeneous and anisotropic. It is straightforward for the user to ``import'' arbitrary target geometries into the code, and relatively straightforward to add new target generation capability to the package. DDSCAT automatically calculates total cross sections for absorption and scattering and selected elements of the Mueller scattering intensity matrix for specified orientation of the target relative to the incident wave, and for specified scattering directions. This User Guide explains how to use DDSCAT.6.0 to carry out electromagnetic scattering calculations. CPU and memory requirements are described.