Computational Electromagnetics

In many technical applications the electromagnetic eigenmodes — frequency spectrum and field distributions - of rf-components are to be determined during the design process. There are numerous cases where the studied component is too complex to allow for a detailed enough simulation on usual servers. One way out of this situation is domain decomposition and parallelization of the field simulation. Yet, this demands for a parallelized solver. In our approach, we combine the use of commercial single processor-based software for the field simulation with a tool based on scattering parameter description. The studied component is decomposed in several sections. The scattering matrices of these sections are computed in time domain for instance with a FDTD field solver. A linear system is set up to compute the eigenfrequencies of the complete system and the field amplitudes at the internal ports common to a pair of sections. With the knowledge of these amplitudes the fields of the eigenmodes can be computed with help of a frequency domain field solver. This approach is denoted as Coupled S-Parameter Calculation (CSC). Some advantages of this procedure are the possibility of easy exploitation of symmetries in the studied components and the use of very different granularities in discretization of the single sections. This paper presents the method, its validation using a standard eigenmode solver and applications in the field of accelerator physics. Special attention is given to the eigenmodes of structures with slight deviations from rotational symmetry.