Intra-species charged particle collisions for PIC simulations

In order to model pulsed plasma thrusters, the hybrid code Pi-cLas is under development. This code is based on particle-in-cell (PIC) and direct simulation Monte Carlo techniques for the solution of the Boltzmann equation for rarefied plasma flows, where continuum assumptions fail. In the present paper the focus is on appropriate models to include intraspecies charged particle-especially electron-electron-interactions into the simulation code. For this purpose, the Fokker-Plank FP equation is exploited for electron distribution function f_e is equivalent to a stochastic differential equation (SDE) for the random variable C(t). Results from different numerical experiments will show some properties and advantages of the proposed techniques whose implementation generates an accurate and reliable FP solver.