A hybrid particle method for the kinetic treatment of magnetized plasma sheaths

The guiding center approximation is commonly adopted in fusion particle codes to resolve the motion of charged particles in the core and at the plasma edge of a magnetic fusion device. However, the guiding center approximation does not hold in regions where the field gradients are large, such as the plasma sheath and presheath formed in front of a material surface. Here we present a new hybrid Lagrangian method, which converts the guiding center particles into finite-orbit particles once they reach a region close to the boundary, where the field gradients become large. The domain is divided into a guiding center region and a full-orbit region, and the conversion of the particle is performed both ways. We present numerical results from an implementation of this new scheme within the hPIC Particle-in-Cell developed at Illinois. We show that the approach can accurately resolve the full orbit physics of the plasma sheath, still allowing us to treat the vast majority of the plasma bulk with the usual guiding-center approximation.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Tan, Xin Zhi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Curreli, Davide
• Sankaran, R. Mohan

• hPIC
• Particle-in-cell method
• Plasma sheaths
• Guiding center model
• Fully-kinetic model

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Xin Zhi Tan

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116273

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F116273