Particle integrator for particle-in-cell simulations of ultra-high intensity laser-plasma interactions

JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS

卷:434

Article

Tangtartharakul, Kavin¹  Chen, Guangye²  Arefiev, Alexey¹ 

[1] Univ Calif San Diego, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA

[2] Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA

关键词: Particle-in-cell method;    Kinetic simulations;    Laser-plasma interactions;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jcp.2021.110233

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Particle-in-cell codes are the most widely used simulation tools for kinetic studies of ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions. Using the motion of a single electron in a plane electromagnetic wave as a benchmark problem, we show surprising deterioration of the numerical accuracy of the PIC algorithm with increasing normalized wave amplitude for typical time-step and grid sizes. Two significant sources of errors are identified: strong acceleration near stopping points and the temporal field interpolation. We propose adaptive electron sub-cycling coupled with a third order temporal interpolation of the magnetic field and electric field as an efficient remedy that dramatically improves the accuracy of the particle integrator. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free