Laser-plasma interactions with a Fourier-Bessel Particle-in-Cell method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a spectral particle-in-cell method using Fourier-Bessel transforms for plasma modeling, offering high accuracy without numerical dispersion, especially useful for laser-plasma interaction simulations.

Contribution

A novel spectral PIC method employing Fourier-Bessel transforms that improves accuracy and eliminates numerical dispersion compared to traditional FDTD PIC methods.

Findings

The method accurately models laser-plasma interactions.

It avoids numerical dispersion present in FDTD methods.

Test simulations show improved performance in wakefield acceleration modeling.

Abstract

A new spectral particle-in-cell (PIC) method for plasma modeling is presented and discussed. In the proposed scheme, the Fourier-Bessel transform is used to translate the Maxwell equations to the quasi-cylindrical spectral domain. In this domain, the equations are solved analytically in time, and the spatial derivatives are approximated with high accuracy. In contrast to the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) methods that are commonly used in PIC, the developed method does not produce numerical dispersion, and does not involve grid staggering for the electric and magnetic fields. These features are especially valuable in modeling the wakefield acceleration of particles in plasmas. The proposed algorithm is implemented in the code PLARES-PIC, and the test simulations of laser plasma interactions are compared to the ones done with the quasi-cylindrical FDTD PIC code CALDER-CIRC.