Adaptive Hybrid Finite Element/Difference Method for Maxwell’s Equations

An explicit, adaptive, hybrid finite element/finite difference method is proposed for the numerical solution of Maxwell's equations in the time domain. The method is hybrid in the sense that different numerical methods, finite elements and finite differences, are used in different parts of the computational domain. Thus, we combine the flexibility of finite elements with the efficiency of finite differences. Furthermore, an a posteriori error estimate is derived for local adaptivity and error control inside the subregion, where finite elements are used. Numerical experiments illustrate the usefulness of computational adaptive error control of proposed new method.