Introduction to the particle-in-cell algorithm

a jupyter notebook based tutorial

Purpose

The primary purpose of this repository is to provide an introduction to the rudimentary particle-in-cell algorithm. Examples are based on laser-plasma physics and standard plasma instabilities.

Fundamental steps

The different steps of the particle-in-cell algorithm:

• solving the time-dependent Maxwell equations to update the electromagnetic field
• interpolating the field values onto the particles to compute the Colomb force
• solving the equation of motion based on the previously calculated force
• compute the current created by the particle motion and interpolate it onto the simulation grid will be treated separately.

Using jupyter

In order to provide an easy to use development environment, this project provides jupyter notebooks in python. This approach is inspired by the great work of @labarba et al. regarding, for example, the tutorial on the Navier-Stokes equation.

Status

As of now, this is work in progress and far from complete. Feel free to contribute.