UNIFIED ANALYSIS OF TIME DOMAIN MIXED FINITE ELEMENT METHODS FOR MAXWELL'S EQUATIONS IN DISPERSIVE MEDIA

In this paper, we consider the time dependent Maxwell＇s equations when dispersive media are involved. The Crank-Nicolson mixed finite element methods are developed for three most popular dispersive medium models： the isotropic cold plasma, the one-pole Debye medium and the two-pole Lorentz medium. Optimal error estimates are proved for all three models solved by the Raviart-Thomas-Ndd@lec spaces. Extensions to multiple pole dispersive media are presented also.

Comparison of Finite Difference and Mixed Finite Element Methods for Perfectly Matched Layer Models

We consider the anisotropic uniaxial formulation of the perfectly matched layer(UPML)model for Maxwell’s equations in the time domain.We present and analyze a mixed finite element method for the discretization of the UPML in the time domain to simulate wave propagation on unbounded domains in two dimensions.On rectangles the spatial discretization uses bilinear finite elements for the electric field and the lowest order Raviart-Thomas divergence conforming elements for the magnetic field.We use a centered finite difference method for the time discretization.We compare the finite element technique presented to the finite difference time domain method(FDTD)via a numerical reflection coefficient analysis.We derive the numerical reflection coefficient for the case of a semi-infinite PML layer to show consistency between the numerical and continuous models,and in the case of a finite PML to study the effects of terminating the absorbing layer.Finally,we demonstrate the effectiveness of the mixed finite element scheme for the UPML by a numerical example and provide comparisons with the split field PML discretized by the FDTD method.In conclusion,we observe that the mixed finite element scheme for the UPML model has absorbing properties that are comparable to the FDTD method.

Finite Element Analysis of Maxwell’s Equations in Dispersive Lossy Bi-Isotropic Media

In this paper,the time-dependent Maxwell’s equations used to modeling wave propagation in dispersive lossy bi-isotropic media are investigated.Existence and uniqueness of the modeling equations are proved.Two fully discrete finite element schemes are proposed,and their practical implementation and stability are discussed.

ON DISCRETE ENERGY DISSIPATION OF MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS IN A COLE-COLE DISPERSIVE MEDIUM

A simple criterion is studied for the first time for identifying the discrete energy dissipation of the Crank-Nicolson scheme for Maxwell’s equations in a Cole-Cole dispersive medium.Several numerical formulas that approximate the time fractional derivatives are investigated based on this criterion,including the L1 formula,the fractional BDF-2,and the shifted fractional trapezoidal rule(SFTR).Detailed error analysis is provided within the framework of time domain mixed finite element methods for smooth solutions.The convergence results and discrete energy dissipation law are confirmed by numerical tests.For nonsmooth solutions,the method SFTR can still maintain the optimal convergence order at a positive time on uniform meshes.Authors believe this is the first appearance that a second-order time-stepping method can restore the optimal convergence rate for Maxwell’s equations in a Cole-Cole dispersive medium regardless of the initial singularity of the solution.