Non-LTE modeling with non-thermal electrons
POSTER
Abstract
We present a computational tool to simulate self-consistently the time evolution of the non-LTE kinetics and the electron energy distribution function (EEDF). The standard collisional-radiative rate equations for the atomic states\footnote{H.A. Scott, \textit{JQSRT} 71, pp. 689-701, 2001} are solved together with a Boltzmann-Fokker-Planck (BFP) equation for the EEDF. Both elastic and inelastic processes as well as radiative transitions are included. The EEDF is discretized on a non-uniform grid in energy space, and the numerical solution of the BFP equation is based on a set of recently developed algorithms\footnote{H.P. Le \& J.-L. Cambier, \textit{preprint}, 2017}. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the capability of the code.
*This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.