PML Implementation in a Non-conforming Mixed-Element DGTD Method for Periodic Structure Analysis

A nonconforming mixed-element (tetrahedral/hexahedral) discontinuous Galerkin time-domain (DGTD) method with a perfectly matched layer (PML) absorber is proposed to analyze the electromagnetic scattering from doubly periodic structures. An efficient auxiliary differential equation (ADE)-based PML implementation is presented with transformed field variables introduced by the time-domain periodic boundary conditions (PBCs). The proposed PML implementation performs well in absorbing the waves with high-order Floquet modes. Additionally, a mixed-order DGTD method is introduced to improve the proposed PML implementation’s long-term stability and reduce the total computational cost. Based on the mixed tetrahedral and hexahedral grids, the nonconforming DGTD method can provide accurate field distribution near complex scattering geometries while simultaneously reducing the degrees of freedom (DoF) in the rest of the computational domain, including the open space and PML regions. Finally, electromagnetic simulations are presented to demonstrate the applicability, accuracy, and efficiency of the proposed method.