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

POSTER

Abstract

Particle-in-cell codes are the most widely used simulation tools for kinetic studies of ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions. As a benchmark problem, we examine the motion of a single electron in a plane electromagnetic wave. 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.

*The work of Kavin Tangtartharakul and Alexey Arefiev was supported by the National Science Foundation (PHY 1821944). The work of Guangye Chen was supported by the Exascale Computing Project (grant no. 17-SC-20-SC), a collaborative effort of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Publication: K. Tangtartharakul, G. Chen, and A. Arefiev, Journal of Computational Physics 434, 110233 (2021).

Presenters

  • Kavin Tangtartharakul

    • University of California, San Diego

Authors

  • Kavin Tangtartharakul

    • University of California, San Diego

  • Guangye Chen

    • Los Alamos Natl Lab

  • Alexey Arefiev

    • University of California, San Diego
    • Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0411, USA