Speaker
Description
In this talk, I will explore the needs and rationale for using implicit PIC simulations in fusion research. With the resurgence of fusion R&D funding in recent years, there is a need to interpret and understand experimental data from various fusion devices, such as tokamaks, stellarators, pinches, magnetic mirrors, and cusps. Of particular interest, the plasma confinement efficiency of these devices is the single most critical measure of device performance and its potential for net fusion energy generation. However, modeling plasma confinement is challenging because particle and energy loss dynamics in fusion devices span a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, from a fraction of a microsecond in turbulence dynamics to seconds in energy confinement in large-scale fusion devices such as ITER. Implicit PIC models such as ECsim or iPIC3D offer a promising path toward a self-consistent model of plasma confinement efficiency. Though much work is still needed, the potential for implicit PIC is clear, and I will present an ECsim modeling effort simulating self-consistent plasma loss in a magnetic cusp configuration known as a Polywell as an example.