Integrating the Lorentz Force Law for Highly-Relativistic Particle-in-Cell Simulations

Integrating the Relativistic Lorentz Force Law for plasma simulations is an area of current research. In particular, recent research indicates that interaction with laser fields of relativistic intensity is particularly problematic for current integration techniques. Here is presented a special-purpose integrator yielding improved accuracy for particle trajectories in fields of highly-relativistic intensity, and convergence studies of VSim particle-in-cell simulations showing improved accuracy and performance for laser-plasma acceleration problems.