A full vectorial generalized discontinuous Galerkin beam propagation method (GDG-BPM) for nonsmooth electromagnetic fields in waveguides

In this paper, we propose a new full vectorial generalized discontinuous Galerkin beam propagation method (GDG-BPM) to accurately handle the discontinuities in electromagnetic fields associated with wave propagations in inhomogeneous optical waveguides. The numerical method is a combination of the traditional beam propagation method (BPM) with a newly developed generalized discontinuous Galerkin (GDG) method [K. Fan, W. Cai, X. Ji, A generalized discontinuous Galerkin method (GDG) for Schrödinger equations with nonsmooth solutions, J. Comput. Phys. 227 (2008) 2387-2410]. The GDG method is based on a reformulation, using distributional variables to account for solution jumps across material interfaces, of Schrödinger equations resulting from paraxial approximations of vector Helmholtz equations. Four versions of the GDG-BPM are obtained for either the electric or magnetic field components. Modeling of wave propagations in various optical fibers using the full vectorial GDG-BPM is included. Numerical results validate the high order accuracy and the flexibility of the method for various types of interface jump conditions.