A FDTD-based modal PML

The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is one of the most popular numerical methods for solving electromagnetic problems because of its algorithmic simplicity and flexibility. For an open waveguide structure, modal perfectly matched layer (PML) schemes have been developed as efficient absorbing terminations. However, since these PML schemes are not derived directly from the FDTD algorithm, they do not perform as well as the original three-dimensional (3-D) PMLs. In this letter, a FDTD-based one-dimensional modal PML is proposed. Because it is derived directly from the FDTD formulation, its numerical dispersion characteristics are very close to the original FDTD method. Relative differences between results obtained with the proposed method and the original 3-D PML are found to be less than - 220 dB, and the proposed modal PML is shown to perform at least the same as the original PML if not better.