Another new FDTD method for linear dispersive media-but this one's the best yet

A number of different FDTD methods used to model electromagnetic propagation in linear dispersive media have been published. We introduce a new FDTD method for general linear dispersive media (dielectrics and non-magnetized cold plasmas) based on exponential fitting of the auxiliary difference equation. We show that the recursive convolution method, developed by Luebbers et al. (1990, 1991) is exactly equivalent to a particular discretization in the context of our new method. Using this alternate formulation of the recursive convolution method, we apply a new analysis technique to compare the accuracy of the recursive convolution method and the exponential fitting method, as well as other formulations based on straightforward difference approximations of the governing differential equations.