Accurate determination of surface electric fields for conformal finite difference time domain simulations

Summary form only given. Modeling an electromagnetic (EM) structure with curved boundaries using a conformal finite-difference time-domain (CFDTD) method retains a second order accuracy while using a staircased FDTD one only gives a first order accuracy. In spite of the advantages to use the CFDTD method in EM simulations, the calculation of surface electric fields is performed by interpolation methods but usually gives unsatisfied results. In this work, a new algorithm being able to accurately determine surface electric fields near a curved surface has been developed and tested. The preliminary benchmark results show convergence that the surface electric fields can be calculated as accurately as higher than 99% using a 160 by 160 grid in 2D. Since the algorithm has been validated in 2D, a 3D counterpart is under development. Accurate determination of surface electric fields in CFDTD simulations is important for a lot of research studies such as surface breakdown, field emission, plasma wall interaction, etc. Detailed algorithm and benchmark results will be presented.