Solving Maxwell eigenvalue problems for accelerating cavities

We investigate algorithms for computing steady state electromagnetic waves in cavities. The Maxwell equations for the strength of the electric field are solved by a mixed method with quadratic finite edge (Nédélec) elements for the field values and corresponding node-based finite elements for the Lagrange multiplier. This approach avoids so-called spurious modes which are introduced if the divergence-free condition for the electric field is not treated properly. To compute a few of the smallest positive eigenvalues and corresponding eigenmodes of the resulting large sparse matrix eigenvalue problems, two algorithms have been used: the implicitly restarted Lanczos algorithm and the Jacobi-Davidson algorithm, both with shift-and-invert spectral transformation. Two-level hierarchical basis preconditioners have been employed for the iterative solution of the resulting systems of equations.