A 2D Electromagnetic PIC Code for Distributed Memory Parallel Computers

The two dimensional electrostatic plasma particle in cell (PIC) code described an [1] has been upgraded to a 2D electromagnetic PIC code running on the Caltech/JPL Mark IIIfp and the Intel iPSC/860 parallel MIMD computers. The code solves the complete time dependent Maxwell’s equations where the plasma responses, i.e., the charge and current density in the plasma, are evaluated by advancing in time the trajectories of ~ 10^6 particles in their self-consistent electromagnetic field. The field equations are solved in Fourier space. Parallelisation is achieved through domain decomposition in real and Fourier space. Results from a simulation showing a two-dimensional Alfèn wave filamentation instability are shown; these are the first simulations of this 2D Alfèn wave decay process

Accurate simulation of direct laser acceleration in a laser wakefield accelerator

In a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA), an intense laser pulse excites a plasma wave that traps and accelerates electrons to relativistic energies. When the pulse overlaps the accelerated electrons, it can enhance the energy gain through direct laser acceleration (DLA) by resonantly driving the betatron oscillations of the electrons in the plasma wave. The particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm, although often the tool of choice to study DLA, contains inherent errors due to numerical dispersion and the time staggering of the electric and magnetic fields. Further, conventional PIC implementations cannot reliably disentangle the fields of the plasma wave and laser pulse, which obscures interpretation of the dominant acceleration mechanism. Here, a customized field solver that reduces errors from both numerical dispersion and time staggering is used in conjunction with a field decomposition into azimuthal modes to perform PIC simulations of DLA in an LWFA. Comparisons with traditional PIC methods, model equations, and experimental data show improved accuracy with the customized solver and convergence with an order-of-magnitude fewer cells. The azimuthal-mode decomposition reveals that the most energetic electrons receive comparable energy from DLA and LWFA.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to submit to Physics of Plasma

Modeling of laser wakefield acceleration in Lorentz boosted frame using EM-PIC code with spectral solver

WOS:000333403900007 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)Simulating laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in a Lorentz boosted frame in which the plasma drifts towards the laser with nu(b) can speed up the simulation by factors of gamma(2)(b) = (1 nu(2)(b)/c(2))(-1). In these simulations the relativistic drifting plasma inevitably induces a high frequency numerical instability that contaminates the interesting physics. Various approaches have been proposed to mitigate this instability. One approach is to solve Maxwell equations in Fourier space (a spectral solver) as this has been shown to suppress the fastest growing modes of this instability in simple test problems using a simple low pass or "ring" or "shell" like filters in Fourier space. We describe the development of a fully parallelized, multi-dimensional, particle-in-cell code that uses a spectral solver to solve Maxwell's equations and that includes the ability to launch a laser using a moving antenna. This new EM-PIC code is called UPIC-EMMA and it is based on the components of the UCLA PIC framework (UPIC). We show that by using UPIC-EMMA, LWFA simulations in the boosted frames with arbitrary yb can be conducted without the presence of the numerical instability. We also compare the results of a few LWFA cases for several values of yb, including lab frame simulations using OSIRIS, an EM-PIC code with a finite-difference time domain (FDTD) Maxwell solver. These comparisons include cases in both linear and nonlinear regimes. We also investigate some issues associated with numerical dispersion in lab and boosted frame simulations and between FDTD and spectral solvers

Modeling of laser wakefield acceleration in Lorentz boosted frame using a Quasi-3D OSIRIS algorithm

Recently it was proposed in [A. F. Lifschitz, et. al., J. Comp. Phys. 228, 1803 (2009)] that laser wakefield acceleration could be modeled efficiently using a particle-in-cell code in cylindrical coordinates if the fields and currents were expanded into Fourier modes in the azimuthal angle, ?. We have implemented this algorithm into OSIRIS, including a new rigorous charge conserving deposition routine applicable for it [A. Davidson, et. al., J. Comp. Phys. 281, 1063 (2014)]. This algorithm can be interpreted as a PIC description in r - z and a gridless description in ? in which the expansion into ? modes is truncated at a desired level. This new quasi-3D algorithm greatly reduces the computational load by describing important three-dimensional (3D) geometrical effects with nearly two-dimensional calculations. In this paper, we propose to combine this algorithm with the Lorentz boosted frame method for simulations of Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA). We show preliminary results, including an investigation of the unstable numerical Cerenkov instability modes for this geometry, and discuss directions for future work. These preliminary results indicate that combining the quasi-3D method and the Lorentz boosted frame method together may provide unprecedented speed ups for LWFA simulations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Controlling the numerical Cerenkov instability in PIC simulations using a customized finite difference Maxwell solver and a local FFT based current correction

In this paper we present a customized finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) Maxwell solver for the particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm. The solver is customized to effectively eliminate the numerical Cerenkov instability (NCI) which arises when a plasma (neutral or non-neutral) relativistically drifts on a grid when using the PIC algorithm. We control the EM dispersion curve in the direction of the plasma drift of a FDTD Maxwell solver by using a customized higher order finite difference operator for the spatial derivative along the direction of the drift (1 direction). We show that this eliminates the main NCI modes with moderate broken vertical bar k(1)broken vertical bar, while keeps additional main NCI modes well outside the range of physical interest with higher broken vertical bar k(1)broken vertical bar. These main NCI modes can be easily filtered out along with first spatial aliasing NCI modes which are also at the edge of the fundamental Brillouin zone. The customized solver has the possible advantage of improved parallel scalability because it can be easily partitioned along (1) over bar which typically has many more cells than other directions for the problems of interest. We show that FFTs can be performed locally to current on each partition to filter out the main and first spatial aliasing NCI modes, and to correct the current so that it satisfies the continuity equation for the customized spatial derivative. This ensures that Gauss' Law is satisfied. We present simulation examples of one relativistically drifting plasma, of two colliding relativistically drifting plasmas, and of nonlinear laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) in a Lorentz boosted frame that show no evidence of the NCI can be observed when using this customized Maxwell solver together with its NCI elimination scheme.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Enabling Lorentz boosted frame particle-in-cell simulations of laser wakefield acceleration in quasi-3D geometry

When modeling laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) using the particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm in a Lorentz boosted frame, the plasma is drifting relativistically at beta(b)c towards the laser, which can lead to a computational speedup of similar to gamma(2)(b)=(1-beta(2)(b))-1. Meanwhile, when LWFA is modeled in the quasi-3D geometry in which the electromagnetic fields and current are decomposed into a limited number of azimuthal harmonics, speedups are achieved by modeling three dimensional (3D) problems with the computational loads on the order of two dimensional r-z simulations. Here, we describe a method to combine the speedups from the Lorentz boosted frame and quasi-3D algorithms. The key to the combination is the use of a hybrid Yee-FFT solver in the quasi-3D geometry that significantly mitigates the Numerical Cerenkov Instability (NCI) which inevitably arises in a Lorentz boosted frame due to the unphysical coupling of Langmuir modes and EM modes of the relativistically drifting plasma in these simulations. In addition, based on the space-time distribution of the LWFA data in the lab and boosted frame, we propose to use a moving window to follow the drifting plasma, instead of following the laser driver as is done in the LWFA lab frame simulations, in order to further reduce the computational loads. We describe the details of how the NCI is mitigated for the quasi-3D geometry, the setups for simulations which combine the Lorentz boosted frame, quasi-3D geometry, and the use of a moving window, and compare the results from these simulations against their corresponding lab frame cases. Good agreement is obtained among these sample simulations, particularly when there is no self-trapping, which demonstrates it is possible to combine the Lorentz boosted frame and the quasi-3D algorithms when modeling LWFA. We also discuss the preliminary speedups achieved in these sample simulations.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Spectral modification of laser-accelerated proton beams by self-generated magnetic fields

Target normal measurements of proton energy spectra from ultrathin (50-200 nm) planar foil targets irradiated by 10(19) W cm(-2) 40 fs laser pulses exhibit broad maxima that are not present in the energy spectra from micron thickness targets (6 mu m). The proton flux in the peak is considerably greater than the proton flux observed in the same energy range in thicker targets. Numerical modelling of the experiment indicates that this spectral modification in thin targets is caused by magnetic fields that grow at the rear of the target during the laser-target interaction

COMPASS, the COMmunity Petascale project for Accelerator Science and Simulation, a board computational accelerator physics initiative

Accelerators are the largest and most costly scientific instruments of the Department of Energy, with uses across a broad range of science, including colliders for particle physics and nuclear science and light sources and neutron sources for materials studies. COMPASS, the Community Petascale Project for Accelerator Science and Simulation, is a broad, four-office (HEP, NP, BES, ASCR) effort to develop computational tools for the prediction and performance enhancement of accelerators. The tools being developed can be used to predict the dynamics of beams in the presence of optical elements and space charge forces, the calculation of electromagnetic modes and wake fields of cavities, the cooling induced by comoving beams, and the acceleration of beams by intense fields in plasmas generated by beams or lasers. In SciDAC-1, the computational tools had multiple successes in predicting the dynamics of beams and beam generation. In SciDAC-2 these tools will be petascale enabled to allow the inclusion of an unprecedented level of physics for detailed prediction

Recent results and future challenges for large scale Particle-In-Cell simulations of plasma-based accelerator concepts

The concept and designs of plasma-based advanced accelerators for high energy physics and photon science are modeled in the SciDAC COMPASS project with a suite of Particle-In-Cell codes and simulation techniques including the full electromagnetic model, the envelope model, the boosted frame approach and the quasi-static model. In this paper, we report the progress of the development of these models and techniques and present recent results achieved with large-scale parallel PIC simulations. The simulation needs for modeling the plasma-based advanced accelerator at the energy frontier is discussed and a path towards this goal is outlined