Analysis of transient plasmonic interactions using an MOT-PMCHWT integral equation solver

Device design involving metals and dielectrics at nano-scales and optical frequencies calls for simulation tools capable of analyzing plasmonic interactions. To this end finite difference time domain (FDTD) and finite element methods have been used extensively. Since these methods require volumetric meshes, the discretization size should be very small to accurately resolve fast-decaying fields in the vicinity of metal/dielectric interfaces. This can be avoided using integral equation (IE) techniques that discretize only on the interfaces. Additionally, IE solvers implicitly enforce the radiation condition and consequently do not need (approximate) absorbing boundary conditions. Despite these advantages, IE solvers, especially in time domain, have not been used for analyzing plasmonic interactions.