EMPLab FAQ

How can I purchase a copy of EMPLab?

To purchase EMPLab, you can email our sales department at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Why don't I see anything other than the title bar when I open EMPLab?

This problem is caused by a compatabliltiy issue between all versions before MATLAB 6.4 and Windows XP. For more information about this problem and how to resolve it, please review the solution on MATLAB's webpage.

Why does nothing happen when I try to open the Help File?

You do not have Internet Explorer set as your default browser. To fix this problem, you can switch Internet Explorer to your default browser or you can open the files manually with you preferred browser. These help files are located in the following folder: .../EMPLab/Documents/Help File.

Does my system support EMPLab Accelerator?

We have a program on the website that can detect if your video card will work with EMPLab GPU Edition. Please download and run this program. Instructions for running query program:

  • Download this file.
  • Unzip the contents of the file to your hard drive
  • Double-click the "vidcard_query" file to run – a text box will pop up with the results of the system inspection. No data is sent to EM Photonics during this process.

If your card is ATI brand, the program may report that it is supported. However, we currently do not support ATI cards. If you have one of these, please contact us for more details.

What if the program reports that my system does not support EMPLab Accelerator?

This can happen for a variety of reasons:

  • Your card is not supported. See below for a list of supported hardware.
  • The drivers for your card are out of date. Please visit your manufacturer’s website and verify that you are running the latest drivers.
  • The program simply failed to detect your system properly. This can happen on systems with multiple displays, or on systems that are not running Windows XP. Please send the output to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we can provide a more in-depth answer.

Which graphics cards are supported by EMPLab Accelerator?

Currently we primarily support the “GeForce” series of cards from NVIDIA. More specifically, we support cards starting from the GeForce 6 series. It is important to note that the code is fully forward compatible with future releases from NVIDIA and performance should improve with new cards!

I want to upgrade my graphics card for EMPLab Accelerator – what should I buy?

If purchasing a new card, the best NVIDIA card available is recommended (assuming your system supports it). At the time of writing, the fastest for PCI-Express are:

  • GeForce 9800 Series
  • GeForce 8800 Series
  • GeForce 7800 Series

Do I need anything else?

Currently our product is only compatible with Windows 2000 and XP. You will need to have MATLAB 6 or MATLAB 7 installed. Due to a bug in MATLAB, it MUST be installed to a path with no spaces. Example: c:\MATLAB7\

How well does EMPLab accelerator perform?

We have benchmarked a GeForce 7800 GTX against a Pentium 4 3.4 GHz system with DDR2-667 RAM and found that the graphics card is 180x faster than standard EMPLab. In comparison, a GeForce 6800 Ultra is 50x faster than standard EMPLab.

What problem sizes are possible?

This question is difficult to answer as it is problem-dependent and also GPU/driver/memory dependent. For the 256 MB card, we are often able to solve problems of up to 4.5 million nodes. For a 512 MB card, this figure will roughly double.

What features of EMPLab are supported in the accelerated version?

All EMPLab features are available in GPU Edition. However, only meshing and the 2D FDTD engine are accelerated. Toolboxes (Planar, Mode Solver, Unit Cell Analysis) and 3D FDTD are NOT currently accelerated.