BI-FDTD: A new technique for modeling electromagnetic wave interaction with bi-isotropic media

A novel FDTD scheme that can be used to effectively model the interaction of electromagnetic waves with bi-isotropic (BI) media is developed. This new technique exploits the fact that the electromagnetic fields in a BI medium may be decomposed into a set of two uncoupled waves, each of which may be viewed as propagating in an associated isotropic medium. The main advantages of this approach are the inherent simplicity of the resulting BI–FDTD scheme, and the ability to easily extend it to include dispersive bi-isotropic as well as bi-anisotropic materials. For purposes of illustration, the new BI–FDTD formulation will be validated for a one-dimensional chiral slab bounded by free space.