An unconditionally-stable FDTD method based on split-step scheme for solving three-dimensional maxwell equations

A new split-step finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for solving three-dimensional Maxwell’s equations is presented, which is proven to be unconditionally-stable and has simpler procedure formulation than the operator splitting (OS) FDTD method based on exponential evolution operator scheme. The proposed method has the new splitting forms along the x, y and z coordinate directions to reduce computational complexity and the second-order accuracy in both time and space. In the application of a cavity, the proposed method produces 35% reduction of the run time than the split-step (SS)-FDTD (2, 2) method.