Finite Element Calculation of Photonic Band Structures for Frequency Dependent Materials

We consider the calculation of the band structure of frequency dependent photonic crystals. The associated eigenvalue problem is nonlinear and it is challenging to develop effective convergent numerical methods. In this paper, the band structure problem is formulated as the eigenvalue problem of a holomorphic Fredholm operator function of index zero. Lagrange finite elements are used to discretize the operator function. Then the convergence of the eigenvalues is proved using the abstract approximation theory for holomorphic operator functions. A spectral indicator method is developed to practically compute the eigenvalues. Numerical examples are presented to validate the theory and show the effectiveness of the proposed method.