Simulation of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Plasma Using Matrix Exponential FDTD Method

The electromagnetic propagation in plasma media can be conveniently modeled using finite difference time domain method based on the matrix exponential (ME-FDTD) method. The Maxwell’s curl equations and the constitutive relations between the flux density and the electric field can be looked as a first order differential matrix system. The fundamental solution to such a system is derived in terms of matrix exponential and the update equations can be extracted conveniently from the solution. This has the advantages of presenting a more concise formulation. The ME-FDTD algorithm is validated by comparing the simulation results with the analytical values. Numerical results show that the ME-FDTD can acquire high efficiency with less computer consumption and has a good performance of flexibility and simplicity.