Generation of Bessel beam sources in FDTD.

In this paper, a straightforward approach is presented to generate Bessel beam sources in three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Based on the angular spectrum representation (ASR), the incident Bessel beam is described as a superposition of plane waves whose wavevectors covering a conical surface. This decomposition of Bessel beam is then approximated by a finite collection of plane waves, which are injected into FDTD simulation domain using the total-field/scattered-field (TF/ST) method. The present method's correctness and accuracy are verified by comparing the reconstructed field in FDTD with the original field. Far-field scattered diagrams of a dielectric sphere and a spheroid particle illuminated by a zero-order or a higher-order Bessel beam are calculated using FDTD. The results are compared with those calculated using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT) and surface integral equation method (SIEM). Very good agreements have been achieved, which partially indicate the correctness of our method. Internal and near-surface field distributions for a two-layer hemisphere particle, which are illuminated by Bessel beams, are also displayed to show the potentials of this approach in solving scattering problems of complex particles. This approach can also be applied to generate other structured beam sources in FDTD, which provides an access to solve structured beam scattering by complex particles using FDTD.