Wave propagation in waveguides and periodic structures. Discrete conservation laws


Gregory Kriegsmann and Darko Volkov

Department of Mathematical Sciences

New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102

The objective of our work is to develop numerical schemes for the propagation of time harmonic waves in a two dimensional waveguide or period structures assuming that there is a smooth object inside the propagation medium. We want to calculate reflection and transmission coefficients relative to that object when it is illuminated by a propagating wave. We use the theory of integral equations to obtain highly accurate estimates for these coefficients. The estimates satisfy conservation laws. We show that these conservation laws are satisfied at the discrete level. Therefore they do not indicate how accurate the numerical solution is. We are able to check for accuracy by different means which we describe.

In a first case we consider a hard object in a hard waveguide, that is we impose Neumann boundary conditions on the walls of the waveguide and on the contour of the object. We choose the wave number in a range that allows only one mode to propagate. We solve an integral equation of the second kind to obtain a density function defined on the contour of the object using Nystrom's method and the collocation method for weakly singular integral equations. The density solving the integral equation is in turn used for the calculation of transmission and reflection coefficients. These coefficients satisfy discrete conservation laws. We provide a rigorous mathematical explanation for that fact. If the object is symmetric, more conservation laws are satisfied at the discrete level and we also provide a rigorous mathematical account of that situation. We also discuss how we were able to test our codes on problems whose solution is known.

We then study the propagation of waves in planar periodic structures. In the modeling of this physical situation we assume that there is a hard object in a waveguide and that periodic boundary conditions are satisfied on the walls of the waveguide. We introduce in this situation another parameter, the incidence angle of the incoming wave. Our numerical schemes preserve conservation laws in this case too.

Finally we consider the case of a dielectric structure. We suppose that we have a penetrable object in a soft waveguide where the wave number is chosen so as to have only one propagating mode. We seek for a solution to the dielectric equations in the form of a combination of a single and a double layer potential. Conservation laws are satisfied at the limit within 7 decimals of accuracy. In the case of an object with a complex wave number, we show that our solutions satisfy the relevant energy conservation law as the number of modes increases. In the dielectric case too, we discuss how we were able to test our codes on problems whose solution is known.