Electromagnetic and transport considerations in subpicosecond photoconductive switch modeling

The authors discuss a combination of direct finite-difference time-domain solutions of Maxwell's equations and Monte Carlo models of photocarrier transport used to avoid assumptions commonly made in developing equivalent circuit models for transmission lines and in other simplifications commonly made in modeling conductivity. Problems that complicate the development of an accurate model for subpicosecond optoelectronic switching and the measurement of electrical waveforms on microstrip lines are discussed.>