An enhanced 2D-FDTD solver for analyzing guided wave structures

An equivalent two-dimensional finite difference time domain (2D-FDTD) method has been introduced by Xiao and Vahldieck (1993), which is applied in conjunction with a modified Courant stability condition, for efficiently analyzing guided wave structures over a broad band of frequencies. We present an enhancement of the above algorithm that incorporates various advanced techniques, including the unsplit anisotropic perfectly matched layer (PML) type of absorbing boundary condition (ABC), digital signal processing windowing (DSPW) technique, and the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) for field plot extraction. The use of the enhanced version of FDTD can lead to significant time and memory savings without a sacrifice of the accuracy of the results. The application of the enhanced, equivalent 2D-FDTD analysis is illustrated by analyzing the propagation characteristics and field distributions in an open microstrip line.