Particle-in-cell charged-particle simulations, plus Monte Carlo collisions with neutral atoms, PIC-MCC

Author

Birdsall, C.K.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA

Volume

19

Issue

2

fYear

1991

fDate

4/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

65

Lastpage

85

Abstract

Many-particle charged-particle plasma simulations using spatial meshes for the electromagnetic field solutions, particle-in-cell (PIC) merged with Monte Carlo collision (MCC) calculations, are coming into wide use for application to partially ionized gases. The author emphasizes the development of PIC computer experiments since the 1950s starting with one-dimensional (1-D) charged-sheet models, the addition of the mesh, and fast direct Poisson equation solvers for 2-D and 3-D. Details are provided for adding the collisions between the charged particles and neutral atoms. The result is many-particle simulations with many of the features met in low-temperature collision plasmas; for example, with applications to plasma-assisted materials processing, but also related to warmer plasmas at the edges of magnetized fusion plasmas

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; plasma collision processes; plasma simulation; 1D charged sheet models; Coulomb collision calculations; Monte Carlo collisions; electromagnetic field solutions; fast direct Poisson equation solvers; low-temperature collision plasmas; magnetized fusion plasmas; many-particle simulations; neutral atoms; partially ionized gases; particle-in-cell charge-particle simulations; plasma-assisted materials processing; spatial meshes; Atomic measurements; Computational modeling; Computer simulation; Monte Carlo methods; Nuclear and plasma sciences; Plasma applications; Plasma materials processing; Plasma measurements; Plasma simulation; Plasma temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.106800

Filename

106800