This award will support a long-term research visit by Professor Raymond J. Luebbers, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, to Japan for a cooperative research project with Professor Saburo Adachi, Laboratory of Electromagnetics at Tohoku University, at Sendai. The researchers will attempt to extend the applications and analysis capabilities of Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) methods as applied to problems in electromagnetics. The FDTD method involves dividing a computational space into small cells. The material occupying each cell may be specified independently. The simulated electromagnetic source field is propagated through the computational space in small time steps. The electric and magnetic fields in each cell are computed at each time step. Other quantities, including voltage, current, Pointing vector, and energy density are available for each cell at each time step. The areas of concentration will include development of an FDTD antenna modeling capability, assessing effectiveness of methods used to shield persons and electronic equipment from electromagnetic waves, improving methods for analyzing dispersive electric and magnetic materials such as plasmas, and developing improved methods for modeling and predicting biological effects of electromagnetic fields. The Laboratory of Electromagnetics at Tohoku University is one of the most highly recognized and prestigious electromag- netics research institutions in Japan. Professor Adachi is internationally recognized as a leader in electromagnetics research. Professor Luebbers has been heavily involved in the area and contributed to the development of FDTD modeling of dispersive media. Applications for these improved FDTD methods include antennas, radar scattering, electromagnetic performance of dielectric and magnetic materials, electromag- netic shielding, microwave circuits, fiber optics, and biological effects. Since there is an agreement of Academic Exchange between the Pennsylvania State University and Tohoku University, it is believed that collaboration between the researchers will continue beyond the termination of this formal agreement.
