Unphysical kinetic effects in particle-in-cell modeling of laser wakefield accelerators

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Estelle Cormier-Michel,^1,2 B. A. Shadwick,³ C. G. R. Geddes,¹ E. Esarey,^1,2 C. B. Schroeder,¹ and W. P. Leemans^1,2
¹Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
²Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0111, USA

Received 10 December 2007; revised 29 April 2008; published 23 July 2008

Unphysicalheating and macroparticle trapping that arise in the numerical modelingof laser wakefield accelerators using particle-in-cell codes are investigated. Adark current free laser wakefield accelerator stage, in which notrapping of background plasma electrons into the plasma wave shouldoccur, and a highly nonlinear cavitated wake with self-trapping, aremodeled. Numerical errors can lead to errors in the macroparticleorbits in both phase and momentum. These errors grow asa function of distance behind the drive laser and canbe large enough to result in unphysical trapping in theplasma wake. The resulting numerical heating in intense short-pulse laser-plasmainteractions grows much faster and to a higher level thanthe known numerical grid heating of an initially warm plasmain an undriven system. The amount of heating, at leastin the region immediately behind the laser pulse, can, ingeneral, be decreased by decreasing the grid size, increasing thenumber of particles per cell, or using smoother interpolation methods.The effect of numerical heating on macroparticle trapping is lesssevere in a highly nonlinear cavitated wake, since trapping occursin the first plasma wave period immediately behind the laserpulse.

URL:	http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.016404
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevE.78.016404
PACS:	52.38.Kd; 52.50.Jm; 41.75.Jv 52.38.Kd Laser-plasma acceleration of electrons and ions 52.50.Jm Plasma production and heating by laser beams 41.75.Jv Laser-driven acceleration of charged-particle beams YEAR: 2008
KEYWORDS:	interpolation, optical self-focusing, plasma accelerators, plasma heating by laser, plasma light propagation, plasma nonlinear processes, plasma simulation, wakefield accelerators

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