Advances in Finite-Difference Time-Domain Methods for Engineering Electromagnetics

Abstract

This paper summarizes my group’s latest work in applying finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) techniques for Maxwell’s equations to model complex electromagnetic wave interactions. Our perspective, based upon two decades of continuous work in this field, is that FD-TD provides an electromagnetic modeling framework that is so robust that merely activating a set of auxiliary time-dependent differential equations (contained within subroutines) for physical quantities associated with the electromagnetic field permits the article being modeled to be switched from a jet fighter to a digital electronic circuit to a photonic device. The augmentation of FD-TD in this manner gives it enormous capability in modeling nonlinear electronic and photonic phenomena that are central to ultrahigh-speed device behavior. We will focus on four primary technical developments