WarpX for Fusion Research: Recent Advances and New Capabilities

WarpX is an open-source, high-performance Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code with growing adoption for plasma simulation in fusion research, including inertial fusion, field-reversed configuration plasmas and other concepts. Created under the US DOE Exascale Computing Project, and now supported in part under DOE FES SciDAC, WarpX’s open and collaborative model has attracted a diverse user community from laboratories, academia and private industry, enabling rapid feature development and broad applicability to emerging fusion concepts.

This presentation will offer a high-level overview of WarpX’s capabilities with a focus on recent advances most relevant to fusion applications. Highlights include support for new field solvers and geometries (including a fully implicit PIC solver, as well as a hybrid Ohm’s law solver), improvements in binary collision modules (including Coulomb scattering, ionization and charge exchange), and the ability to simulate particle emission and absorption at embedded boundaries. The rapid pace of these advancements reflects the active engagement of the WarpX community and the code’s commitment to addressing the evolving needs of fusion research.