Citation¶

If Ikarus carried your results somewhere good, please cite it — it's how open-source scientific software earns its keep.

GitHub's Cite this repository button

The repo ships a machine-readable CITATION.cff, so GitHub shows a Cite this repository button (right sidebar) that exports BibTeX/APA for you. The entries below are the same information.

How to cite¶

Shelling Neto, L. Ikarus: high-precision 2-D RCWA simulation for periodic photonic structures (version 1.0.0). CAVITY technologies GmbH, 2026. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21744163

BibTeX¶

@software{ikarus_rcwa,
  author  = {Shelling Neto, Liam},
  title   = {{Ikarus}: High-Precision 2-D RCWA Simulation for Periodic
             Photonic Structures},
  year    = {2026},
  version = {1.0.0},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.21744163},
  publisher = {CAVITY technologies GmbH},
  url     = {https://github.com/CAVITYtechnologies/ikarus}
}

Set version to the release you actually used — python -c "import ikarus; print(ikarus.__version__)".

DOI (Zenodo)

Ikarus is permanently archived on Zenodo. Cite the concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21744163 for the software — it always resolves to the latest release — or the version DOI to pin a specific release (v1.1.0 → 10.5281/zenodo.22894315).

The white paper¶

Ikarus has a companion white paper — Ikarus: High-fidelity RCWA simulation and inverse design for metasurfaces — that walks through the design, the faithfulness guarantees and worked forward- and inverse-design examples. To cite the paper itself (rather than the software):

Shelling Neto, L. Ikarus: high-fidelity RCWA simulation and inverse design for metasurfaces (white paper). CAVITY technologies GmbH, 2026. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21966455

@techreport{shellingneto2026ikarus,
  author      = {Shelling Neto, Liam},
  title       = {Ikarus: High-fidelity RCWA simulation and inverse design for metasurfaces},
  institution = {CAVITY technologies GmbH},
  year        = {2026},
  type        = {White paper},
  doi         = {10.5281/zenodo.21966455}
}

Cite the software entry above for the tool; cite the white paper here for the write-up and the design rationale.

Background references¶

The method itself stands on classic shoulders. If you discuss RCWA in your paper, these are the canonical citations:

M. G. Moharam and T. K. Gaylord, "Rigorous coupled-wave analysis of planar-grating diffraction," J. Opt. Soc. Am. 71, 811 (1981) — the original formulation.
M. G. Moharam, E. B. Grann, D. A. Pommet, T. K. Gaylord, "Formulation for stable and efficient implementation of the rigorous coupled-wave analysis of binary gratings," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 12, 1068 (1995).
L. Li, "Use of Fourier series in the analysis of discontinuous periodic structures," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 13, 1870 (1996) — the factorization rules; the default normal-vector method applies Li's inverse rule along the local boundary normal.
L. Li, "New formulation of the Fourier modal method for crossed surface-relief gratings," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 14, 2758 (1997) — the two-step factorization behind factorization="li", to which the default reduces on axis-aligned geometry.
T. Schuster, J. Ruoff, N. Kerwien, S. Rafler, W. Osten, "Normal vector method for convergence improvement using the RCWA for crossed gratings," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 24, 2880 (2007) — the normal-vector (Fast Fourier Factorization) method behind the default factorization="auto".
L. Li, "Formulation and comparison of two recursive matrix algorithms for modeling layered diffraction gratings," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 13, 1024 (1996) — the S-matrix recursion.
R. C. Rumpf, "Improved formulation of scattering matrices for semi-analytical methods that is consistent with convention," PIER B 35, 241 (2011) — the scattering-matrix conventions Ikarus follows.

These cite the method; the software entry above cites the implementation.