Iterative solution of global electromagnetic wavefields with finite elements Original Research Article

The time-independent Maxwell equations are solved iteratively in 2D geometry for 3D global waves in plasma physics. Krylov space methods, such as the generalized- or the quasi-minimal residuals (GMRES or QMR), are applied together with an incomplete factorization (ILU) preconditioning to a formulation using nodal elements for the electromagnetic scalar and vector potentials. The plasma response is represented as a complex, frequency dependent, dielectric tensor operator and can be used for a variety of applications involving low frequency waves in a tokamak. The iterative approach does not only result in considerable memory savings, but it is also more efficient than a direct solution and paves the way for the parallelization of global wave and stability codes.