VSim User Guide

Overview

This manual demonstrates how to use either the Visual Setup (.sdf input files) or Text Base Setup (.pre input files) to set up a VSim simulation. It then shows how to run the computational engine on the resulting input files, how to perform data analysis in VSim, and how to visualize data.

VSim [VSi] is an arbitrary dimensional, electromagnetics and plasma simulation code consisting of two major components:

  • VSimComposer, the graphical user interface.
  • Vorpal [NC04], the VSim Computational Engine.

VSim also includes many more items such as Python, MPI, data analyzers, and a set of input simplifying macros.

Glossary

domain
The rectangular Cartesian grid. The physical domain is the grid specified by a user. The extended domain is the grid with guard cells added by Vorpal.
extended domain
See domain.
FDTD
Finite-difference time-domain. The FDTD method is a technique for solving problems in electromagnetics.
float
A floating-point number.
guard cell
A cell located outside the user-defined simulation grid that Vorpal adds for parallel processing and other computational purposes. Charges cannot be deposited in guard cells, but you can use guard cells when you describe boundary conditions.
HDF5
Hierarchical Data Format Version 5. A library and file format, developed by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for storing graphical and numerical data and for transferring that data between computers. Vorpal and VSimComposer output data in hdf5.
input block
An input block is an object consisting of parameters. Input blocks can be nested within other input blocks. For example, input blocks for boundary conditions are nested within the input block for an electromagnetic field.
input file
A Vorpal simulation file, which has a .pre suffix. Users define a simulation and its variables in an input file. VSimComposer then runs the input file through a preprocessor to produce a processed input file.
MPI
Message Passing Interface. An application programming interface (API) for communicating between processes executing in parallel.
multi-grid pre-conditioner
A pre-conditioner that enables a solver to use a hierarchy of grids to solve a partial differential equation problem. The multi-grid pre-conditioner applies the results from coarse grids to accelerate the convergence on the finest grid.
parameter
A parameter is a variable value (integer, floating-point number, or text string) that users define to create a simulation.
parse
To divide input into parts and determine the meaning of each part.
physical domain
See domain.
pre-conditioner
An algorithm that works with an electrostatic solver to transfer an original linear system matrix into a matrix that has better convergence behavior.
processed input file
A Vorpal simulation file, which has a .in suffix. VSimComposer processes the input file to produce a processed input file.
Python
An open-source, interpreted scripting language managed by the Python Software Foundation.
SI units
The International System of Units (Le Systeme International d’Unites), which has seven base units: meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela.
solver
An algorithm that calculates the results of electrostatic problems.
TxPhysics
A cross-platform library of computational modules, provided by Tech-X Corporation, for modeling charged particles.

References

[VSi]VSim: an electromagnetics and plasma computational application. https://www.txcorp.com/vsim. Accessed: 2018-08-12.
[AMMS00]E Ahedo, P Martinez, and M Martinez-Sanchez. Steady and linearly-unsteady analysis of a hall thruster with an internal sonic point. In 36th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 3655. 2000.
[ADK86]MV Ammosov, NB Delone, and VP Krainov. Tunnel ionization of complex atoms and of atomic ions in an alternating electromagnetic field. Sov. Phys. JETP, 64:1191, 1986.
[ACWB09]TM Austin, JR Cary, GR Werner, and L Bellantoni. Validation of broadly filtered diagonalization method for extracting frequencies and modes from high-performance computations. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series, volume 180, 012003. IOP Publishing, 2009.
[BHF+90]Clarence F Barnett, Hamilton T Hunter, M Imogene Fitzpatrick, I Alvarez, C Cisneros, and Ronald A Phaneuf. Atomic data for fusion. volume 1: collisions of h, h2, he and li atoms and ions with atoms and molecules. NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N, 1990.
[BWC08]Carl A Bauer, Gregory R Werner, and John R Cary. Truncated photonic crystal cavities with optimized mode confinement. Journal of Applied Physics, 104(5):053107, 2008.
[BWC11]Carl A Bauer, Gregory R Werner, and John R Cary. A second-order 3d electromagnetics algorithm for curved interfaces between anisotropic dielectrics on a yee mesh. Journal of Computational Physics, 230(5):2060–2075, 2011.
[BL91]CK Bidsall and AB Langdon. Plasma physics via computer simulation, adam hilger. 1991.
[BL04]Charles K Birdsall and A Bruce Langdon. Plasma physics via computer simulation. CRC press, 2004.
[CR64a]L.M. Chanin and G.D. Rork. Experimental determinations of the first townsend coefficient in helium. Physical Review, 133(4A):1005A–1009A, 1964.
[CR64b]L.M. Chanin and G.D. Rork. Measurements of the first townsend ionization coefficient in neon and hydrogen. Physical Review, 132(6):2547–2553, 1964.
[CES+12]M Chen, E Esarey, CB Schroeder, CGR Geddes, and WP Leemans. Theory of ionization-induced trapping in laser-plasma accelerators. Physics of Plasmas, 19(3):033101, 2012.
[CCMG+13]Min Chen, Estelle Cormier-Michel, Cameron GR Geddes, David L Bruhwiler, LL Yu, Eric Esarey, CB Schroeder, and WP Leemans. Numerical modeling of laser tunneling ionization in explicit particle-in-cell codes. Journal of Computational Physics, 236:220–228, 2013.
[CSMZ06]Min Chen, Zheng-Ming Sheng, Yan-Yun Ma, and Jie Zhang. Electron injection and trapping in a laser wakefield by field ionization to high-charge states of gases. 2006.
[CMRB+10]Estelle Cormier-Michel, Vahid H Ranjbar, David L Bruhwiler, Min Chen, Cameron GR Geddes, Eric Esarey, Carl B Schroeder, and Wim P Leemans. Design and interpretation of colliding pulse injected laser-plasma acceleration experiments. In AIP Conference Proceedings, volume 1299, 215–220. AIP, 2010.
[CFL28]R Courant, K Friedrichs, and H Lewy. On the partial difference equations op mathematical physics. Mathematische Annalen, 1928.
[DK91]NB Delone and Vladimir P Krainov. Energy and angular electron spectra for the tunnel ionization of atoms by strong low-frequency radiation. JOSA B, 8(6):1207–1211, 1991.
[DM97]Supriyo Dey and Raj Mittra. A locally conformal finite-difference time-domain (fdtd) algorithm for modeling three-dimensional perfectly conducting objects. IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, 7(9):273–275, 1997.
[DG05]J. T. Donohue and J. Gardelle. Simulation of smith-purcell radiation using a particle-in-cell code. Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams, 8:060702, Jun 2005. URL: https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.8.060702, doi:10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.8.060702.
[FP02]MA Furman and MTF Pivi. Probabilistic model for the simulation of secondary electron emission. Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams, 5:124404, 2002.
[GTVT+04]CGR Geddes, Cs Toth, J Van Tilborg, E Esarey, CB Schroeder, D Bruhwiler, C Nieter, J Cary, and WP Leemans. High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding. Nature, 431(7008):538, 2004.
[Ged96]Stephen D Gedney. An anisotropic perfectly matched layer-absorbing medium for the truncation of fdtd lattices. IEEE transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 44(12):1630–1639, 1996.
[Had02]G Ronald Hadley. High-accuracy finite-difference equations for dielectric waveguide analysis ii: dielectric corners. Journal of lightwave technology, 20(7):1219, 2002.
[HE88]Roger W Hockney and James W Eastwood. Computer simulation using particles. crc Press, 1988.
[IDC92]FA Ilkov, JE Decker, and SL Chin. Ionization of atoms in the tunnelling regime with experimental evidence using hg atoms. Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 25(19):4005, 1992.
[K+65]LV Keldysh and others. Ionization in the field of a strong electromagnetic wave. Sov. Phys. JETP, 20(5):1307–1314, 1965.
[Kim92]Yong-Ki Kim. Compact fitting formulas for electron-impact cross sections. Journal of research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 97(6):689, 1992.
[Lan98]Culbert B Laney. Computational gasdynamics. Cambridge university press, 1998.
[LL05]M.A. Lieberman and A.J. Lichtenberg. Principles of Plasma Discharges and Materials Processing. Wiley, 2005.
[LS05]BG Lindsay and RF Stebbings. Charge transfer cross sections for energetic neutral atom data analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2005.
[MCL+11]Sudhakar Mahalingam, Yongjun Choi, John Loverich, Peter Stoltz, Bryan Bias, and James Menart. Fully coupled electric field/pic-mcc simulation results of the plasma in the discharge chamber of an ion engine. In 47th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 6071. 2011.
[MB04]Peter Messmer and David L Bruhwiler. A parallel electrostatic solver for the vorpal code. Computer physics communications, 164(1-3):118–121, 2004.
[MPSC11]D. Mihalcea, P. Piot, P. Stoltz, and B. Cowan. Wakefield generation in compact rectangular dielectric-loaded structures using flat beams. In Proceedings of 2011 Particle Accelerator Conference, New York, NY, USA, 340–342. 2011.
[MPL+02]J Scott Miller, Steve H Pullins, Dale J Levandier, Yu-hui Chiu, and Rainer A Dressler. Xenon charge exchange cross sections for electrostatic thruster models. Journal of Applied Physics, 91(3):984–991, 2002.
[Mur98]Gerrit Mur. Total-field absorbing boundary conditions for the time-domain electromagnetic field equations. IEEE transactions on electromagnetic compatibility, 40(2):100–102, 1998.
[NC04]Chet Nieter and John R Cary. Vorpal: a versatile plasma simulation code. Journal of Computational Physics, 196(2):448–473, 2004.
[NCW+09]Chet Nieter, John R Cary, Gregory R Werner, David N Smithe, and Peter H Stoltz. Application of dey–mittra conformal boundary algorithm to 3d electromagnetic modeling. Journal of Computational Physics, 228(21):7902–7916, 2009.
[OZAJ08]Ardavan F Oskooi, Lei Zhang, Yehuda Avniel, and Steven G Johnson. The failure of perfectly matched layers, and towards their redemption by adiabatic absorbers. Optics Express, 16(15):11376–11392, 2008.
[Pad09]Hasan Padamsee. RF superconductivity: science, technology, and applications. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
[PB91]BM Penetrante and JN Bardsley. Residual energy in plasmas produced by intense subpicosecond lasers. Physical Review A, 43(6):3100, 1991.
[PC02]ST Perkins and DE Cullen. Endl type formats for the llnl evaluated atomic data library, eadl, for the evaluated electron data library, eedl, and for the evaluated photon data library, epdl. Technical Report, Lawrence Livermore National Lab.(LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States), 2002. Accessed: 2018-08-15.
[PCS91]ST Perkins, DE Cullen, and SM Seltzer. Tables and graphs of electron-interaction cross-sections from 10 ev to 100 gev derived from the llnl evaluated electron data library (eedl), z= 1-100. UCRL-50400, 31:21–24, 1991.
[Rei08]Martin Reiser. Theory and design of charged particle beams. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
[RGH02]Yotka Rickard, Natalia Georgieva, and Wei-Ping Huang. A perfectly matched layer for the 3-d wave equation in the time domain. IEEE microwave and wireless components letters, 12(5):181–183, 2002.
[SVS82]J Michael Shull and Michael Van Steenberg. The ionization equilibrium of astrophysically abundant elements. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 48:95–107, 1982.
[Smi07]David N Smithe. Finite-difference time-domain simulation of fusion plasmas at radiofrequency time scales. Physics of Plasmas, 14(5):056104, 2007.
[SWB06]Randy L Spicer, Joseph Wang, and Lubos Breida. A study of particle collisions in electric propulsion plasma plumes. Technical Report, AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB EDWARDS AFB CA PROPULSION DIRECTORATE, 2006.
[SVC+06]PH Stoltz, JP Verboncoeur, RH Cohen, AW Molvik, J-L Vay, and SA Veitzer. Modeling ion-induced electrons in the high current experiment. Physics of plasmas, 13(5):056702, 2006.
[TLCS04]Francesco Taccogna, Savino Longo, Mario Capitelli, and Ralf Schneider. Stationary plasma thruster simulation. Computer physics communications, 164(1-3):160–170, 2004.
[TLCS05]Francesco Taccogna, Savino Longo, Mario Capitelli, and Ralf Schneider. Plasma flow in a hall thruster. Physics of plasmas, 12(4):043502, 2005.
[TDD+13]Miles M Turner, Aranka Derzsi, Zoltan Donko, Denis Eremin, Sean J Kelly, Trevor Lafleur, and Thomas Mussenbrock. Simulation benchmarks for low-pressure plasmas: capacitive discharges. Physics of Plasmas, 20(1):013507, 2013.
[VD97]Vahid Vahedi and G DiPeso. Simultaneous potential and circuit solution for two-dimensional bounded plasma simulation codes. Journal of Computational Physics, 131(1):149–163, 1997.
[VS95]Vahid Vahedi and Maheswaran Surendra. A monte carlo collision model for the particle-in-cell method: applications to argon and oxygen discharges. Computer Physics Communications, 87(1-2):179–198, 1995.
[VAVB93]John P Verboncoeur, Maria Virginia Alves, Vahid Vahedi, and Charles Kennedy Birdsall. Simultaneous potential and circuit solution for 1d bounded plasma particle simulation codes. Journal of Computational Physics, 104(2):321–328, 1993.
[WBC13]Gregory R Werner, Carl A Bauer, and John R Cary. A more accurate, stable, fdtd algorithm for electromagnetics in anisotropic dielectrics. Journal of Computational Physics, 255:436–455, 2013.
[WC07]Gregory R Werner and John R Cary. A stable fdtd algorithm for non-diagonal, anisotropic dielectrics. Journal of Computational Physics, 226(1):1085–1101, 2007.
[WC08]Gregory R Werner and John R Cary. Extracting degenerate modes and frequencies from time-domain simulations with filter-diagonalization. Journal of Computational Physics, 227(10):5200–5214, 2008.
[YT96]Yasunori Yamamura and Hiro Tawara. Energy dependence of ion-induced sputtering yields from monatomic solids at normal incidence. Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables, 62(2):149–253, 1996.
[Yee66]Kane Yee. Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems involving maxwell’s equations in isotropic media. IEEE Transactions on antennas and propagation, 14(3):302–307, 1966.

Trademarks and licensing

  • Vorpal™ © 1999-2002 University of Colorado. All rights reserved.
  • Vorpal™ © 2002-2021 University of Colorado and Tech-X Corporation. All rights reserved.
  • VSim™ except for Vorpal™ is © 2012-2021 Tech-X Corporation. All rights reserved.

For VSim™ licensing details please email sales@txcorp.com. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Redistribution of any VSim™ input files from the VSim™ installation or the VSim™ document set, including VSim Installation, VSim Examples, VSim User Guide, VSim Reference, and VSim Customization, is allowed provided that this Copyright statement is also included with the redistribution.