HYPIC: A fast hybrid EM PIC-MCC code for ion cyclotron resonance energization in cylindrical coordinate system
Description
Ion cyclotron resonance energization (ICRE) such as ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) is widely applied to magnetic confinement fusion and high-power electric propulsion. Since ICRE involves cyclotron resonance processes, a kinetic model is required. Both conventional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and solving the Boltzmann equation require enormous computation and memory. The hybrid simulation incorporating of adiabatic electrons and PIC ions provides a viable solution for both a substantial reduction in computation and the inclusion of cyclotron resonance effects. Under the adiabatic electron approximation, we have developed a two-dimensional (r, z) hybrid electromagnetic (EM) PIC-MCC (Monte-Carlo collision) simulation program, named HYPIC. The advantages of HYPIC are the inclusion of ion kinetic effects, electrostatic (ES) and EM effects, and collisional effects of ions and electrons, with a small computation. The HYPIC program is able to fast simulate the antenna-plasma interactions and the ion cyclotron resonance energization and/or ion cyclotron resonance heating processes in linear devices, such as high-power electric propulsion, magnetic mirror, and field-reversed-configuration (FRC), etc.