A FD-TD based code for teaching of electromagnetic wave propagation

Describes an interactive PC-oriented program for teaching conceptual electromagnetic phenomena related to the propagation of uniform electromagnetic waves and their normal incidence upon multiple layers. The program allows the time-domain visualisation of the electromagnetic wave propagation and its interaction with the structure. The program can be used to study how the characteristics of the layers determine the reflected and transmitted waves as well as their standing wave patterns. Starting with this information, students can do several `computer´s experiments´ like calculating reflection and transmission coefficients, depth of penetration, impedances, standing wave ratio (SWR), etc. The program is based on directly solving Maxwell´s curl equations using the finite difference time-domain (FD-TD) method