Discontinuous Galerkin methods: An affordable alternative to FDTD

In this work we present a Discontinuous Galerkin Time Domain (DGTD) scheme, combined with a second-order Leap-Frog (LF2) time integrator, to solve Maxwell´s equations. The dispersion and dissipation properties, together with an analysis of the computational costs of the method are investigated and compared with the classical Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method. We show that DGTD methods have the potential to become an accurate and computationally affordable alternative to FDTD methods, furthermore taking profit of all similarities with FDTD in terms of material treatment capabilities, geometrical generality, etc.