EDIPIC Code

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EVDF over kinetic energy in two directions parallel to the Hall thruster walls w_x perpendicular to the walls w_z shown as 3D plot and as 2D plot with contour lines; from Ref. [3]

The one-dimensional EDIPIC code was developed for the simulation of kinetic effects in low-temperature plasmas by Dr. Dmytro Sydorenko [1]. EDIPIC stands for “Electrostatic Direct Implicit Particle-In-Cell”. It is based on the 1D-3V direct implicit electrostatic implementation proposed by Gibbons and Hewett [2]. A newer version, EDIPIC-2D, allows simulations of two-dimensional systems with internal objects and capacitively coupled RF power sources. Both codes are open source and available on GitHub along with practical documentation (see the links below). Drs. Alexander Khrabrov and Willca Villafana are contributing to the development of EDIPIC-2D.

The code can simulate crucial atomistic and plasma-surface interaction processes needed for simulations of low-temperature plasmas, including, but not limited to, the secondary electron emission induced by electrons and ions. The Monte Carlo module models electron-neutral and ion-neutral collisions. The Langevin model of Coulomb collisions for electrons is also implemented.

EDIPIC is written in Fortran 90 and parallelized with the Message Passing Interface (MPI). Good scalability of up to 400 CPU cores has been demonstrated. The code is equipped with numerous, diverse diagnostic capabilities, including but not limited to, the phase-space data and ion and electron velocity distribution functions, as well as spectral analysis procedures required to study wave propagation in plasmas.

EDIPIC has been verified in three international benchmarks [3-5]. Numerous publications based on the results obtained with EDIPIC were produced over the last two decades [6]. In particular, the code was used for simulations of radio-frequency capacitive discharges, direct current discharges, and Hall thrusters for both academic and industrial research projects.

GitHub link for EDIPIC-2D: https://github.com/PrincetonUniversity/EDIPIC-2D

GitHub link for EDIPIC-1D: https://github.com/PrincetonUniversity/EDIPIC

[1] Sydorenko, “Particle-in-Cell Simulations of Electron Dynamics in Low Pressure Discharges with Magnetic Fields.”

[2] Gibbons and Hewett, “The Darwin Direct Implicit Particle-in-Cell (DADIPIC) Method for Simulation of Low Frequency Plasma Phenomena.”

[3] Turner et al., “Simulation Benchmarks for Low-Pressure Plasmas.”

[4] Charoy et al., “2D Axial-Azimuthal Particle-in-Cell Benchmark for Low-Temperature Partially Magnetized Plasmas.”

[5] Villafana et al., “2D Radial-Azimuthal Particle-in-Cell Benchmark for E × B Discharges.”

[6] https://w3.pppl.gov/~ikaganov/Publications.html

This capability is located at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.