Simple and Fast Poisson Solver with Arbitrary Boundary Shape and Condition for PIC Simulation

Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are the very powerful method to understand physics of edge plasmas in fusion devices. Poisson solver with a regular grid in a rectangular vessel is very fast, but it cannot simply be applicable to simulations in complicated divertor configuration. In this paper, a simple and fast Poisson solver with arbitrary boundary shape and condition for PIC simulation is proposed. Boundary points are essential for this Poisson solver, on which the charge density is appropriately given and the boundary condition is satisfied. For particle simulations in the open system, it is necessary to distinguish whether a traced particle moves freely or hits the wall boundary during a time step. A new method for PIC simulation to discriminate a particle position before the boundary or beyond the boundary is also presented. (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)