Contour-path effective permittivities for the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method

Effective permittivities for the two-dimensional Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method are derived using a contour path approach that accounts for the boundary conditions of the electromagnetic field at dielectric interfaces. A phenomenological formula for the effective permittivities is also proposed as an effective and simpler alternative to the previous result. Our schemes are validated using Mie theory for the scattering of a dielectric cylinder and they are compared to the usual staircase and the widely used volume-average approximations. Significant improvements in terms of accuracy and error fluctuations are demonstrated, especially in the calculation of resonances.