Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) algorithm for direct solution of Maxwell's nonlinear vector-field equations suitable for modeling the propagation, scattering, and switching of optical pulses, including solitons. The new algorithm, a generalization of our work in [1] on femtosecond pulse propagation in linear dispersive media, should eventually provide a modeling capability for millimeter-scale integrated optical circuits beyond that of existing techniques that use the generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation (GNLSE) since it retains the optical carrier wave and can rigorously treat the electromagnetic field physics of inhomogeneous nonlinear dispersive media in the context of a vector-field boundary value problem.

© 1992 Optical Society of America