The virtual particle EM PIC method for modelling microwave devices

Summary Form only given, as follows. Further developments and applications of the virtual particle (VP) particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithms are reported. They are obtained by minimizing the Maxwell-Vlasov action integral after it has been approximated using finite elements in both space and time. The algorithms are energy and charge conserving, even for finite timestep. The main difference from conventional PIC schemes is that current is assigned from so-called virtual particles placed at specially selected points in time on particle orbits. It is this feature that leads to exact charge conservation. The results show that the advantages of the VP method carry over into general curvilinear coordinates. The problems of efficiently treating electron emission and electromagnetic power extraction have been treated, and a cylindrical implementation of the VP method has been obtained.<>