A significant part of theoretical physics is concerned with developing and refining analytical and numerical methods for the investigation of specific classes of physical problems and systems. The group has been - and continues to be - actively contributing to the development of purely numerical calculation methods such as

• The Discontinuous-Galerkin Time-Domain Method for the Maxwell Equations
• Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (a.k.a. Fourier Modal Method) for Periodic Systems
• The Multi-Scale Methods for Periodic Systems
• The Photonic Wannier Function Method
• Photonic Band-Structure Computations

as well as partly or purely analytical approaches such as

• Quasinormal mode theory for optical cavities and plasmonic nano resonators
• Quantum-Field-Theoretical approaches for photon transport problems
• Strain Computations

Certain aspects of these methods are also of considerable interest to applied mathematicians and we enjoy a particularly fruitful collaboration with the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1173 Wave Phenomena: Mathematics and Numerics.