Finite-Difference Time Domain Method for Nonorthogonal Unit-Cell Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method based on a regular Cartesian Yee's lattice is developed for calculating the dispersion band diagram of a 2-D photonic crystal. Unlike methods that require auxiliary difference equations or nonorthogonal grid schemes, our method uses the standard central-difference equations and can be easily implemented in a parallel computing environment. The application of the periodic boundary condition on an angled boundary involves a split-field formulation of Maxwell's equations. We show that the method can be applied for photonic crystals of both orthogonal and nonorthogonal unit cells. Complete and accurate bandgap information is obtained by using this FDTD approach. Numerical results for 2-D TE/TM modes in triangular lattice photonic crystals are in excellent agreement with the results from 2-D plane wave expansion method. For a triangular lattice photonic crystal slab, the dispersion relation is calculated by a 3-D FDTD method similarly formulated. The result agrees well with the 3-D finite-element method solution. The calculations also show that the 2-D simulation using an effective index approximation can result in considerable error for higher bands.