An energy-stable finite element method for nonlinear Maxwell's equations

In this paper, we consider the three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear Maxwell's equations in the optical media characterized by linear Lorentz dispersion, nonlinear Kerr effect and delayed Raman scattering. Using Crank-Nicolson time discretization and special treatment of the nonlinearity, we propose a second order accurate (in time) finite element method for the nonlinear problem. Fully discrete energy stability analysis is established to show that the scheme is unconditionally stable. The nonlinear system is solved by NewtonKrylov method. In order to efficiently solve the linearized algebraic system in each Newton sub-iteration, we further develop an effective preconditioner by using suitable approximations to the nonlinearity and the auxiliary space preconditioning technique. Numerical experiments are provided to examine the accuracy, the energy stability, the parallel scalability and the robustness in preconditioning of our proposed scheme. We then apply the scheme to simulate the spatial soliton propagation in 3D nonlinear glass. We also demonstrate the performance of the scheme in handling complex geometry through simulating the wave scattering by a spherical hole in the nonlinear optical glass. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this paper, we propose a second order accurate finite element method for the three-dimensional nonlinear Maxwell's equations in optical media. The method is shown to be unconditionally stable through energy stability analysis. We also develop an effective preconditioner to efficiently solve the linearized algebraic system in each Newton sub-iteration. The proposed scheme is validated through numerical experiments and applied to simulate soliton propagation and wave scattering in nonlinear optical glass.