Challenges and solutions for the modeling of linear and nonlinear dispersion effects with FDTD

Abstract

A complete framework to model linear (Drude, Debye, Lorentz) and nonlinear (Kerr, Raman) dispersion effects with the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method in electromagnetics (EM) has been developed. Subcell smoothing for all material effects has been developed and implemented. The challenges that this poses to FDTD such as stability conditions that depend on the strength and shape of the source signals are addressed and investigated with several novel approaches and tools.