No abstract

A simple Python-based open source software library for the numerical simulation of the linear or nonlinear time-dependent Schrödinger equation in one and two dimensions is presented. The integration is performed using a first-order split-step pseudospectral method, relying on the fast Fourier transform. The software library could be useful for undergraduate courses in elementary quantum mechanics, wave optics and computational physics. It could also be of interest for graduate students working with nonlinear waves, in frameworks such as laser beam propagation in nonlinear optical materials, matter waves within ultracold gases, dark matter or superfluid dynamics, among others. The discussion is complemented by solved examples and suggestions for educational applications of the code.

Numerical simulation experiments are of great importance for research and education in Physics. They can be greatly aided by proper graphical representations, especially for spatio-temporal dynamics. In this contribution, we describe and provide a novel Javascript-based library and cloud microservice—QMwebJS—for the visualization of the temporal evolution of three-dimensional distributions. It is an easy to use, web-based library for creating, editing, and exporting 3D models based on the particle sampling method. Accessible from any standard browser, it does not require downloads or installations. Users can directly share their work with other students, teachers or researchers by keeping their models in the cloud and allowing for interactive viewing of the spatio-temporal solutions. This software tool was developed to support quantum mechanics teaching at an undergraduate level by plotting the spatial probability density distribution given by the wavefunction, but it can be useful in different contexts including the study of nonlinear waves.

We provide a software package implementing the well-known beam propagation method to integrate the 1+1 and 1+2 dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation. It is useful to simulate optical beam propagation in the spatial and temporal domains.