Benjamin Vial is a wave physicist who writes the solvers: metamaterials, quasinormal modes, homogenization and topology optimization, plus open-source finite element tools for photonics and electronics.https://bvial.info/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2025-12-16-time-mod-slabs/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2025-12-16-time-mod-slabs/Our paper bringing quasinormal-mode theory to time-modulated media is out in Physical Review B, with an open-source Python code.Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTarticlehttps://bvial.info/blog/posts/2024-09-11-hfh_dispersive/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2024-09-11-hfh_dispersive/Our article on high-frequency homogenization of periodic media with frequency-dependent materials is out in SIAM Multiscale Modeling & Simulation.Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTarticlehttps://bvial.info/blog/posts/2024-09-09-metamaterials_2024/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2024-09-09-metamaterials_2024/Invited talk on quasinormal modes of thin elastic plates at Metamaterials 2024 in Chania, Crete. Abstract and slides available.Mon, 09 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMTconferencehttps://bvial.info/blog/posts/2024-02-29-gyptis/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2024-02-29-gyptis/A hands-on introduction to finite element scattering simulations: a silicon rod, computed live with gyptis and checked against the exact solutionThu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMTnotebookhttps://bvial.info/blog/posts/2022-12-25-metamat/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2022-12-25-metamat/I gave a talk on auto-differentiation, topology optimization and open-source Maxwell solvers for the MetaMat online seminar series. Slides and recording available.Sun, 25 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMTseminarhttps://bvial.info/blog/posts/2022-11-06-optim-photonics/https://bvial.info/blog/posts/2022-11-06-optim-photonics/Our paper on auto-differentiable, open-source solvers for photonics and their use in topology optimization is out in Mathematics (open access).Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMTarticle