A Stable and Efficient Direct Time Integration of the Vector Wave Equation in the Finite-Element Time-Domain Method for Dispersive Media

The finite-element time-domain (FETD) solution of the vector wave equation (VWE) is directly extended to doubly dispersive media using the bilinear transform approach. The proposed formulation is quite general and flexible in the sense of material dispersion model in contrast to limitations of existing convolutional-based approaches. In addition, it can be implemented in a very straightforward and efficient manner. A stability analysis is performed that demonstrates the unconditional stability of the original formulation is preserved in the dispersive case. However, in order to avoid the well-known late-time instabilities that arise in this formulation, an alternative formulation is considered and extended to the dispersive case with the same approach. Several numerical examples are simulated to verify the validity and accuracy of the proposed formulations. The late-time stability of the alternative formulation is tested through a numerical example with 20 million time steps. The solution is completely free from late-time growth.