Kinetic simulations of collision-less plasmas in open magnetic geometries

TL;DR

This paper develops a hybrid Particle-In-Cell simulation tool for collisionless plasmas in open magnetic geometries, incorporating magnetic field effects, boundary conditions, and plasma sources, validated against analytical models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid PIC computational framework tailored for open magnetic geometries, including magnetic field effects and boundary conditions, with validation against analytical momentum transport expressions.

Findings

Electric field modifies ion velocity distribution as predicted.

Ion distribution characterized by loss-cone and Maxwell-Boltzmann components.

Validation confirms the model's accuracy in representing plasma behavior.

Abstract

Laboratory plasmas in open magnetic geometries can be found in many different applications such as (1) Scrape-Of-Layer (SOL) and divertor regions in toroidal confinement fusion devices (\approx1-10^2\hspace{1mm}\mathrm{eV}), (2) linear divertor simulators (\approx1-10\hspace{1mm}\mathrm{eV}), (3) plasma-based thrusters (\approx10\hspace{1mm}\mathrm{eV}) and (4) magnetic mirrors (\approx10^2-10^3\hspace{1mm}\mathrm{eV}). A common feature of these plasma systems is the need to resolve, in addition to velocity space, at least one physical dimension (e.g. along flux lines) to capture the relevant physics. In general, this requires a kinetic treatment. Fully kinetic Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations can be applied but at the expense of large computational effort. A common way to resolve this is to use a hybrid approach: kinetic ions and fluid electrons. In the present work, the development of a hybrid PIC computational tool suitable for open magnetic geometries is described which includes (1) the effect of non-uniform magnetic fields, (2) finite fully-absorbing boundaries for the particles and (3) volumetric particle sources. Analytical expressions for the momentum transport in the paraxial limit are presented with their underlying assumptions and are used to validate the results from the PIC simulations. The self-consistent electric field is calculated and is shown to modify the ion velocity distribution function in manner consistent with analytic theory. Based on this analysis, the ion distribution function is understood in terms of a loss-cone distribution and an isotropic Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution driven by a volumetric plasma source. Finally, inclusion of a Monte-Carlo based Fokker-Planck collision operator is discussed in the context of future work.