We have developed a high performance hybridized parallel Finite
Difference Time Domain (FDTD) algorithm featuring both OpenMP
shared memory programming and MPI message passing. Our goal is to
effectively model the optical characteristics of a novel light
source created by utilizing a new class of materials known as
photonic band-gap crystals. Our method is based on
the solution of the second order discretized Maxwell's equations
in space and time. This novel hybrid parallelization scheme allows
us to take advantage of the new generation parallel machines
possessing connected SMP nodes. By using parallel computations, we
are able to complete a calculation on 24 processors in 24 hours, where a serial version would have taken
over three weeks. In this article we present a detailed
study of this hybrid scheme on an SGI Origin 2000 distributed
shared memory ccNUMA system along with a complete investigation of
the advantages versus drawbacks of this method.
