A finite element solution of the wave propagation problem for an inhomogeneous dielectric slab

A numerical technique based on the variational principle and finite element method is developed for studying the wave propagation problem for an arbitrary inhomogeneous dielectric slab. The variational equation for the boundary value problem is formulated and then solved numerically by the finite element method. The energy criterion for estimating the error in the numerical solution is presented. Numerical results for linear, parabolic, and sinusoidal profiles are included.