Calculation of Diffraction Characteristics of Sub wavelength Conducting Gratings Using a High Accuracy Nonstandard Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method

Gratings with subwavelength groove depth and period are frequently used in optics for various purposes. The polarization dependent diffraction characteristics of subwavelength (high frequency) gratings can only be calculated by solving Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism. In this paper, we calculate the classical diffraction characteristics of subwavelength conducting gratings numerically, using a new high accuracy version of nonstandard finite-difference time-domain (NS-FDTD) algorithm. For the purpose of analysis, we employ a gold sinusoidal grating with light incident at a large angle. We have compared high accuracy NS-FDTD simulation results with those obtained from standard finite-difference time-domain (S-FDTD), and the finite element method (FEM) simulations.