Advances in FDTD Computational Electrodynamics

Book excerpt: Advances in photonics and nanotechnology have the potential to revolutionize humanitys ability to communicate and compute. To pursue these advances, it is mandatory to understand and properly model interactions of light with materials such as silicon and gold at the nanoscale, i.e., the span of a few tens of atoms laid side by side. These interactions are governed by the fundamental Maxwells equations of classical electrodynamics, supplemented by quantum electrodynamics. This book presents the current state-of-the-art in formulating and implementing computational models of these interactions. Maxwells equations are solved using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique, pioneered by the senior editor, whose prior Artech House books in this area are among the top ten most-cited in the history of engineering. This cutting-edge resource helps readers understand the latest developments in computational modeling of nanoscale optical microscopy and microchip lithography, as well as nanoscale plasmonics and biophotonics.