Scattered-Field FDTD and PSTD Algorithms with CPML Absorbing Boundary Conditions for Light Scattering by Aerosols

Abstract

As fundamental parameters for polarized-radiative-transfer calculations, the single-scattering phase matrix of irregularly shaped aerosol particles must be accurately modeled. In this study, a scattered-field finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model and a scattered-field pseudospectral time-domain (PSTD) model are developed for light scattering by arbitrarily shaped dielectric aerosols. The convolutional perfectly matched layer (CPML) absorbing boundary condition (ABC) is used to truncate the computational domain. It is found that the PSTD method is generally more accurate than the FDTD in calculation of the single-scattering properties given similar spatial cell sizes. Since the PSTD can use a coarser grid for large particles, it can lower the memory requirement in the calculation. However, the Fourier transformations in the PSTD need significantly more CPU time than simple subtractions in the FDTD, and the fast Fourier transform requires a power of 2 elements in calculations, thus using the PSTD could not significantly reduce the CPU time required in the numerical modeling. Furthermore, because the scattered-field FDTD/PSTD equations include incidentwave source terms, the FDTD/PSTD model allows for the inclusion of an arbitrarily incident wave source, including a plane parallel wave or a Gaussian beam like those emitted by lasers usually used in laboratory particle characterizations, etc. The scattered-field FDTD and PSTD light-scattering models can be used to calculate single-scattering properties of arbitrarily shaped aerosol particles over broad size and wavelength ranges.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 19, 2013
Accession Number
ADA603825

Entities

People

  • Gorden W. Videen
  • Qiang Fu
  • Wenbo Sun
  • Yongxiang Hu

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Boundaries
  • Cell Size
  • Electric Fields
  • Electromagnetic Wave Propagation
  • Equations
  • Fast Fourier Transforms
  • Finite Difference Time Domain
  • Fourier Transformation
  • Light Scattering
  • Mathematics
  • Optical Lattices
  • Particles
  • Radiative Transfer
  • Refractive Index
  • Scattering
  • Time Domain

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy