Cellular automata and cluster computing:: An application to the simulation of laser dynamics

Firstly, the application of a cellular automata (CA) model to simulate the dynamics of lasers is reviewed. With this kind of model, the macroscopic properties of the laser system emerge as a cooperative phenomenon from elementary components locally interacting under simple rules. Secondly, a parallel implementation of this kind of model for distributed-memory parallel computers is presented. Performance and scalability of this parallel implementation running on a computer cluster are analyzed, giving very satisfactory results. This confirms the feasibility of running large 3D simulations - unaffordable on an individual machine - on computer clusters, in order to simulate specific real laser systems.