One-dimensional electromagnetic relativistic PIC-hydrodynamic hybrid simulation code H-VLPL (hybrid virtual laser plasma lab) Original Research Article

In this paper we present a new one-dimensional full electromagnetic relativistic hybrid plasma model. The full kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) and hydrodynamic model have been combined in the single hybrid plasma code H-VLPL (hybrid virtual laser plasma laboratory). The semi-implicit algorithm allows to simulate plasmas of arbitrary densities via automatic reduction of the highest plasma frequencies down to the numerically stable range. At the same time, the model keeps the correct spatial scales like the plasma skin depth. We discuss the numerically efficient implementation of this model. Further, we carefully test the hybrid model validity by applying it to a series of physical examples. The new mathematical method allows to overcome the typical time step restrictions of explicit PIC codes.