Perfectly matched layer

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The perfectly matched layer (PML) approach to implementing absorbing boundary conditions in FDTD codes was proposed by Berenger in 1994 (see [1]). The approach involves surrounding the computational cell with a medium that in theory absorbs without any reflection electromagnetic waves at all frequencies and angles of incidence. Berenger showed that it was sufficient to "split" Maxwell's equations into two sets of (unphysical) equations in the absorbing layers, appropriately defined. It was later shown that a similar reflectionless absorbing medium can be constructed as a lossy anisotropic dielectric and magnetic material with "matched" impedance and electrical and magnetic conductivities.

The finite-difference implementation of PML requires the conductivities to be turned on gradually over a distance of a few grid points to avoid numerical reflections from the discontinuity. It is important when using PMLs to make the computational cell sufficiently large otherwise the promixity of the PML to evanescent modes may unnecessarily extract energy from the system and thereby perturb it.

There are two useful references on PML in Meep:

PML has some limitations. See also our recent publication on the use of adiabatic absorbers as a workaround for cases when PML fails (most notably in periodic media like photonic crystals, where the fundamental idea behind PML breaks down), another paper on a different case where the PML idea fails, and a third paper on validation of PML and errors in some proposals.

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