Singular Value Decompositions for Single-Curl Operators in Three-Dimensional Maxwell's Equations for Complex Media

This article focuses on solving the generalized eigenvalue problems (GEP) arising in the source-free Maxwell equation with magnetoelectric coupling effects that models three-dimensional complex media. The goal is to compute the smallest positive eigenvalues, and the main challenge is that the coefficient matrix in the discrete Maxwell equation is indefinite and degenerate. To overcome this difficulty, we derive a singular value decomposition (SVD) of the discrete single-curl operator and then explicitly express the basis of the invariant subspace corresponding to the nonzero eigenvalues of the GEP. Consequently, we reduce the GEP to a null space free standard eigenvalue problem (NFSEP) that contains only the nonzero (complex) eigenvalues of the GEP and can be solved by the shift-and-invert Arnoldi method without being disturbed by the null space. Furthermore, the basis of the eigendecomposition is chosen carefully so that we can apply fast Fourier transformation (FFT-) based matrix vector multiplication t...