# Write a namelist¶

Before you run Smilei, you need a namelist (an input file). The namelist is written in the python language. It is thus recommended to know the basics of python.

We suggest you copy one existing namelist from the folder benchmarks. All namelists have the extension .py.

## General rules¶

• Smilei requires a few blocks to be defined, such as:

Main(
# ...
timestep = 0.01,         # defines the timestep value
grid_length = [10., 20.], # defines the 2D box dimensions
# ...
)


Outside blocks, you can calculate anything you require. Inside a block, you must only define variables for Smilei.

• The python syntax requires special indentation of each line. You begin with no indentation, but you have to add four spaces at the beginning of lines inside a group, and so on. For instance:

if a == 0:
timestep = 0.1
if b == 1:
timestep = 0.2
else:
timestep = 0.3

• You will need to use lists, which are series of things in python, defined between brackets [] and separated by commas. For example, mean_velocity = [0., 1.1, 3.].

• You are free to import any installed python package into the namelist. For instance, you may obtain $$\pi$$ using from math import pi.

• All quantities are normalized to arbitrary values: see Units.

## Python workflow¶

Python is started at the beginning of the simulation (one python interpreter for each MPI process). The following steps are executed:

1. A few variables from Smilei are passed to python so that they are available to the user:

2. The namelist(s) is executed.

3. Python runs preprocess() if the user has defined it. This is a good place to calculate things that are not needed for post-processing with happi.

4. The simulation is initialized (including field and particle arrays).

5. Python runs cleanup() if the user has defined it. This is a good place to delete unused heavy variables.

6. Python checks whether the python interpreter is needed during the simulation (e.g. the user has defined a temporal profile which requires python to calculate it every timestep). Otherwise, python is stopped.

All these instructions are summarized in a file smilei.py, so that the user can directly run python -i smilei.py for post-processing purposes.

## Main variables¶

The block Main is mandatory and has the following syntax:

Main(
geometry = "1Dcartesian",
interpolation_order = 2,
interpolator = "momentum-conserving",
grid_length  = [16. ],
cell_length = [0.01],
simulation_time    = 15.,
timestep    = 0.005,
number_of_patches = [64],
cluster_width = 5,
maxwell_solver = 'Yee',
EM_boundary_conditions = [
["silver-muller", "silver-muller"],
#        ["silver-muller", "silver-muller"],
#        ["silver-muller", "silver-muller"],
],
time_fields_frozen = 0.,
reference_angular_frequency_SI = 0.,
print_every = 100,
random_seed = 0,
)

geometry

The geometry of the simulation:

• "1Dcartesian"

• "2Dcartesian"

• "3Dcartesian"

• "AMcylindrical": cylindrical geometry with Azimuthal modes decomposition.

In the following documentation, all references to dimensions or coordinates depend on the geometry. 1D, 2D and 3D stand for 1-dimensional, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional cartesian geometries, respectively. All coordinates are ordered as $$(x)$$, $$(x,y)$$ or $$(x,y,z)$$. In the "AMcylindrical" case, all grid coordinates are 2-dimensional $$(x,r)$$, while particle coordinates (in Species) are expressed in the 3-dimensional Cartesian frame $$(x,y,z)$$.

Warning

The "AMcylindrical" geometry has some restrictions. Boundary conditions must be set to "remove" for particles, "silver-muller" for longitudinal EM boundaries and "buneman" for transverse EM boundaries. You can alternatively use "PML" for all boundaries. Vectorization, collisions and order-4 interpolation are not supported yet.

interpolation_order
Default

2

Interpolation order, defines particle shape function:

• 2 : 3 points stencil, supported in all configurations.

• 4 : 5 points stencil, not supported in vectorized 2D geometry.

interpolator
Default

"momentum-conserving"

• "momentum-conserving"

• "wt"

The interpolation scheme to be used in the simulation. "wt" is for the timestep dependent field interpolation scheme described in this paper .

grid_length
number_of_cells
A list of numbers: size of the simulation box for each dimension of the simulation.
• Either grid_length, the simulation length in each direction in units of $$L_r$$,

• or number_of_cells, the number of cells in each direction.

cell_length

A list of floats: sizes of one cell in each direction in units of $$L_r$$.

simulation_time
number_of_timesteps
Duration of the simulation.
• Either simulation_time, the simulation duration in units of $$T_r$$,

• or number_of_timesteps, the total number of timesteps.

timestep
timestep_over_CFL
Duration of one timestep.
• Either timestep, in units of $$T_r$$,

• or timestep_over_CFL, in units of the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) time.

number_of_patches

A list of integers: the number of patches in each direction. Each integer must be a power of 2, and the total number of patches must be greater or equal than the number of MPI processes. It is also strongly advised to have more patches than the total number of openMP threads. See Parallelization basics.

patch_arrangement
Default

"hilbertian"

Determines the ordering of patches and the way they are separated into the various MPI processes. Options are:

• "hilbertian": following the Hilbert curve (see this explanation).

• "linearized_XY" in 2D or "linearized_XYZ" in 3D: following the row-major (C-style) ordering.

• "linearized_YX" in 2D or "linearized_ZYX" in 3D: following the column-major (fortran-style) ordering. This prevents the usage of Fields diagnostics (see Parallelization basics).

cluster_width
Default

set to minimize the memory footprint of the particles pusher, especially interpolation and projection processes

For advanced users. Integer specifying the cluster width along X direction in number of cells. The “cluster” is a sub-patch structure in which particles are sorted for cache improvement. cluster_width must divide the number of cells in one patch (in dimension X). The finest sorting is achieved with cluster_width=1 and no sorting with cluster_width equal to the full size of a patch along dimension X. The cluster size in dimension Y and Z is always the full extent of the patch.

maxwell_solver
Default

‘Yee’

The solver for Maxwell’s equations. Only "Yee" and "M4" are available for all geometries at the moment. "Cowan", "Grassi", "Lehe" and "Bouchard" are available for 2DCartesian. "Lehe" and "Bouchard" is available for 3DCartesian. The M4 solver is described in this paper. The Lehe solver is described in this paper. The Bouchard solver is described in this thesis p. 109

solve_poisson
Default

True

Decides if Poisson correction must be applied or not initially.

poisson_max_iteration
Default

50000

Maximum number of iteration for the Poisson solver.

poisson_max_error
Default

1e-14

Maximum error for the Poisson solver.

solve_relativistic_poisson
Default

False

Decides if relativistic Poisson problem must be solved for at least one species. See Field initialization for relativistic species for more details.

relativistic_poisson_max_iteration
Default

50000

Maximum number of iteration for the Poisson solver.

relativistic_poisson_max_error
Default

1e-22

Maximum error for the Poisson solver.

EM_boundary_conditions
Type

list of lists of strings

Default

[["periodic"]]

The boundary conditions for the electromagnetic fields. Each boundary may have one of the following conditions: "periodic", "silver-muller", "reflective", "ramp??" or "PML".

Syntax 1: [[bc_all]], identical for all boundaries.
Syntax 2: [[bc_X], [bc_Y], ...], different depending on x, y or z.
Syntax 3: [[bc_Xmin, bc_Xmax], ...], different on each boundary.
• "silver-muller" is an open boundary condition. The incident wave vector $$k_{inc}$$ on each face is defined by "EM_boundary_conditions_k". When using "silver-muller" as an injecting boundary, make sure $$k_{inc}$$ is aligned with the wave you are injecting. When using "silver-muller" as an absorbing boundary, the optimal wave absorption on a given face will be along $$k_{abs}$$ the specular reflection of $$k_{inc}$$ on the considered face.

• "ramp??" is a basic, open boundary condition designed for the spectral solver in AMcylindrical geometry. The ?? is an integer representing a number of cells (smaller than the number of ghost cells). Over the first half, the fields remain untouched. Over the second half, all fields are progressively reduced down to zero.

• "PML" stands for Perfectly Matched Layer. It is an open boundary condition. The number of cells in the layer is defined by "number_of_pml_cells". It supports laser injection as in "silver-muller".

Warning

In the current release, in order to use PML all "EM_boundary_conditions" of the simulation must be "PML".

EM_boundary_conditions_k
Type

list of lists of floats

Default

[[1.,0.],[-1.,0.],[0.,1.],[0.,-1.]] in 2D

Default

[[1.,0.,0.],[-1.,0.,0.],[0.,1.,0.],[0.,-1.,0.],[0.,0.,1.],[0.,0.,-1.]] in 3D

For silver-muller absorbing boundaries, the x,y,z coordinates of the unit wave vector k incident on each face (sequentially Xmin, Xmax, Ymin, Ymax, Zmin, Zmax). The number of coordinates is equal to the dimension of the simulation. The number of given vectors must be equal to 1 or to the number of faces which is twice the dimension of the simulation. In cylindrical geometry, k coordinates are given in the xr frame and only the Rmax face is affected.

Syntax 1: [[1,0,0]], identical for all boundaries.
Syntax 2: [[1,0,0],[-1,0,0], ...], different on each boundary.
number_of_pml_cells
Type

list of lists of integer

Default

[[6,6],[6,6],[6,6]]

Defines the number of cells in the "PML" layers using the same alternative syntaxes as "EM_boundary_conditions".

time_fields_frozen
Default

Time, at the beginning of the simulation, during which fields are frozen.

reference_angular_frequency_SI

The value of the reference angular frequency $$\omega_r$$ in SI units, only needed when collisions, ionization, radiation losses or multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair creation are requested. This frequency is related to the normalization length according to $$L_r\omega_r = c$$ (see Units).

Number of timesteps between each info output on screen. By default, 10 outputs per simulation.

Default

True

If False, the calculation of the expected disk usage, that is usually printed in the standard output, is skipped. This might be useful in rare cases where this calculation is costly.

random_seed
Default

0

The value of the random seed. Each patch has its own random number generator, with a seed equal to random_seed + the index of the patch.

number_of_AM
Type

integer

Default

2

The number of azimuthal modes used for the Fourier decomposition in "AMcylindrical" geometry. The modes range from mode 0 to mode "number_of_AM-1".

number_of_AM_classical_Poisson_solver
Default

1

The number of azimuthal modes used for the field initialization with non relativistic Poisson solver in "AMcylindrical" geometry. Note that this number must be lower or equal to the number of modes of the simulation.

number_of_AM_relativistic_field_initialization
Default

1

The number of azimuthal modes used for the relativistic field initialization in "AMcylindrical" geometry. Note that this number must be lower or equal to the number of modes of the simulation.

custom_oversize
Type

integer

Default

2

The number of ghost-cell for each patches. The default value is set accordingly with the interpolation_order value.

Load balancing (explained here) consists in exchanging patches (domains of the simulation box) between MPI processes to reduce the computational load imbalance. The block LoadBalancing is optional. If you do not define it, load balancing will occur every 150 iterations.

LoadBalancing(
initial_balance = True,
every = 150,
)

initial_balance
Default

True

Decides if the load must be balanced at initialization. If not, the same amount of patches will be attributed to each MPI rank.

every
Default

150

Number of timesteps between each load balancing or a time selection. The value 0 suppresses all load balancing.

cell_load
Default

Computational load of a single grid cell considered by the dynamic load balancing algorithm. This load is normalized to the load of a single particle.

frozen_particle_load
Default

0.1

Computational load of a single frozen particle considered by the dynamic load balancing algorithm. This load is normalized to the load of a single particle.

## Multiple decomposition of the domain¶

The block MultipleDecomposition is necessary for spectral solvers and optional in all other cases. When present, it activates the Single-domain multiple decompositions (SDMD) technique which separates the decomposition of the field grids from that of the particles. Fields are set on large sub-domain called regions (1 region per MPI process) while particles are kept as small patches as in the standard decomposition (many patches per MPI process). Benefits of this option are illustrated in this paper.

MultipleDecomposition(
region_ghost_cells = 2
)

region_ghost_cells
Type

integer

Default

2

The number of ghost cells for each region. The default value is set accordingly with the interpolation_order. The same number of ghost cells is used in all dimensions except for spectral solver in AM geometry for which the number of radial ghost cells is always automatically set to be the same as patches.

## Vectorization¶

The block Vectorization is optional. It controls the SIMD operations that can enhance the performance of some computations. The technique is detailed in Ref. [Beck2019] and summarized in this doc. It requires additional compilation options to be actived.

Vectorization(
reconfigure_every = 20,
initial_mode = "on"
)

mode
Default

"off"

• "off": non-vectorized operators are used. Recommended when the number of particles per cell stays below 10.

• "on": vectorized operators are used. Recommended when the number of particles per cell stays above 10. Particles are sorted per cell.

• "adaptive": the best operators (scalar or vectorized) are determined and configured dynamically and locally (per patch and per species). For the moment this mode is only supported in 3Dcartesian geometry. Particles are sorted per cell.

In the "adaptive" mode, cluster_width is set to the maximum.

reconfigure_every
Default

20

The number of timesteps between each dynamic reconfiguration of the vectorized operators, when using the "adaptive" vectorization mode. It may be set to a time selection as well.

initial_mode
Default

off

Default state when the "adaptive" mode is activated and no particle is present in the patch.

## Moving window¶

The simulated domain can move relatively to its the initial position. The “moving window” is (almost) periodically shifted in the x_max direction. Each “shift” consists in removing a column of patches from the x_min border and adding a new one after the x_max border, thus changing the physical domain that the simulation represents but keeping the same box size. This is particularly useful to follow waves or plasma moving at high speed. The frequency of the shifts is adjusted so that the average displacement velocity over many shifts matches the velocity given by the user. The user may ask for a given number of additional shifts at a given time. These additional shifts are not taken into account for the evaluation of the average velocity of the moving window.

The block MovingWindow is optional. The window does not move it you do not define it.

Warning

When the window starts moving, all laser injections via Silver-Muller boundary conditions are immediately stopped for physical correctness.

MovingWindow(
time_start = 0.,
velocity_x = 1.,
)

time_start
Type

Float.

Default

The time at which the window starts moving.

velocity_x
Type

Float.

Default

The average velocity of the moving window in the x_max direction. It muste be between 0 and 1.

number_of_additional_shifts
Type

Integer.

Default

The number of additional shifts of the moving window.

additional_shifts_time
Type

Float.

Default

The time at which the additional shifts are done.

Note

The particle binning diagnostics accept an “axis” called moving_x corresponding to the x coordinate corrected by the moving window’s current movement.

## Current filtering¶

The present version of Smilei provides a multi-pass binomial filter on the current densities, which parameters are controlled in the following block:

CurrentFilter(
model = "binomial",
passes = [0],
kernelFIR = [0.25,0.5,0.25]
)

model
Default

"binomial"

The model for current filtering.

• "binomial" for a binomial filter.

• "customFIR" for a custom FIR kernel.

passes
Type

A python list of integers.

Default

[0]

The number of passes (at each timestep) given for each dimension. If the list is of length 1, the same number of passes is assumed for all dimensions.

kernelFIR
Default

"[0.25,0.5,0.25]"

The FIR kernel for the "customFIR" model. The number of coefficients must be less than twice the number of ghost cells (adjusted using custom_oversize).

## Field filtering¶

The present version of Smilei provides a method for field filtering (at the moment, only the Friedman electric field time-filter is available) which parameters are controlled in the following block:

FieldFilter(
model = "Friedman",
theta = 0.,
)

model
Default

"Friedman"

The model for field filtering. Presently, only "Friedman" field filtering is available.

theta
Default

0.

The $$\theta$$ parameter (between 0 and 1) of Friedman’s method.

## Species¶

Each species has to be defined in a Species block:

Species(
name      = "electrons1",
position_initialization = "random",
momentum_initialization = "maxwell-juettner",
regular_number = [],
particles_per_cell = 100,
mass = 1.,
atomic_number = None,
#maximum_charge_state = None,
number_density = 10.,
# charge_density = None,
charge = -1.,
mean_velocity = [0.],
temperature = [1e-10],
boundary_conditions = [
["reflective", "reflective"],
#    ["periodic", "periodic"],
#    ["periodic", "periodic"],
],
# thermal_boundary_temperature = None,
# thermal_boundary_velocity = None,
time_frozen = 0.0,
# ionization_model = "none",
# ionization_electrons = None,
# ionization_rate = None,
is_test = False,
pusher = "boris",

# Radiation reaction, for particles only:

# Relativistic field initialization:
relativistic_field_initialization = "False",

# For photon species only:
multiphoton_Breit_Wheeler = ["electron","positron"],
multiphoton_Breit_Wheeler_sampling = [1,1]

# Merging
merging_method = "vranic_spherical",
merge_every = 5,
merge_min_particles_per_cell = 16,
merge_max_packet_size = 4,
merge_min_packet_size = 4,
merge_momentum_cell_size = [16,16,16],
)

name

The name you want to give to this species. It should be more than one character and can not start with "m_".

position_initialization

The method for initialization of particle positions. Options are:

• "regular" for regularly spaced. See regular_number.

• "random" for randomly distributed.

• "centered" for centered in each cell (not supported in AMcylindrical geometry.

• The name of another species from which the positions are copied. The source species must have positions initialized using one of the three other options above, and must be defined before this species.

• A numpy array or an HDF5 file defining all the positions of the particles. In this case you must also provide the weight of each particle (see Macro-particle weights). See Initialize particles from an array or a file.

regular_number
Type

A list of as many integers as the simulation dimension

When position_initialization = "regular", this sets the number of evenly-spaced particles per cell in each direction: [Nx, Ny, Nz] in cartesian geometries and [Nx, Nr, Ntheta] in AMcylindrical in which case we recommend Ntheta $$\geq 4\times ($$ number_of_AM $$-1)$$. If unset, particles_per_cell must be a power of the simulation dimension, for instance, a power of 2 in 2Dcartesian.

momentum_initialization

The method for initialization of particle momenta. Options are:

• "maxwell-juettner" for a relativistic maxwellian (see how it is done)

• "rectangular" for a rectangular distribution

• "cold" for zero temperature

• A numpy array or an HDF5 file defining all the momenta of the particles. See Initialize particles from an array or a file.

The first 2 distributions depend on the parameter temperature explained below.

particles_per_cell
Type

float or profile

The number of particles per cell.

mass

The mass of particles, in units of the electron mass $$m_e$$.

atomic_number
Default

0

The atomic number of the particles, required only for ionization. It must be lower than 101.

maximum_charge_state
Default

0

The maximum charge state of a species for which the ionization model is "from_rate".

number_density
charge_density
Type

float or profile

The absolute value of the charge density or number density (choose one only) of the particle distribution, in units of the reference density $$N_r$$ (see Units).

charge
Type

float or profile

The particle charge, in units of the elementary charge $$e$$.

mean_velocity
Type

a list of 3 floats or profiles

The initial drift velocity of the particles, in units of the speed of light $$c$$.

WARNING: For massless particles, this is actually the momentum in units of $$m_e c$$.

temperature
Type

a list of 3 floats or profiles

The initial temperature of the particles, in units of $$m_ec^2$$.

boundary_conditions
Type

a list of lists of strings

Default

[["periodic"]]

The boundary conditions for the particles of this species. Each boundary may have one of the following conditions: "periodic", "reflective", "remove" (particles are deleted), "stop" (particle momenta are set to 0), and "thermalize". For photon species (mass=0), the last two options are not available.

Syntax 1: [[bc_all]], identical for all boundaries.
Syntax 2: [[bc_X], [bc_Y], ...], different depending on x, y or z.
Syntax 3: [[bc_Xmin, bc_Xmax], ...], different on each boundary.
thermal_boundary_temperature
Default

None

A list of floats representing the temperature of the thermal boundaries (those set to "thermalize" in boundary_conditions) for each spatial coordinate. Currently, only the first coordinate (x) is taken into account.

thermal_boundary_velocity
Default

[]

A list of floats representing the components of the particles’ drift velocity after encountering the thermal boundaries (those set to "thermalize" in boundary_conditions).

time_frozen
Default

The time during which the particles are “frozen”, in units of $$T_r$$. Frozen particles do not move and therefore do not deposit any current density either. Nonetheless, they deposit a charge density. They are computationally much cheaper than non-frozen particles and oblivious to any EM-fields in the simulation. Note that frozen particles can be ionized (this is computationally much cheaper if ion motion is not relevant).

ionization_model
Default

"none"

The model for ionization:

ionization_rate

A python function giving the user-defined ionisation rate as a function of various particle attributes. To use this option, the numpy package must be available in your python installation. The function must have one argument, that you may call, for instance, particles. This object has several attributes x, y, z, px, py, pz, charge, weight and id. Each of these attributes are provided as numpy arrays where each cell corresponds to one particle.

The following example defines, for a species with maximum charge state of 2, an ionization rate that depends on the initial particle charge and linear in the x coordinate:

from numpy import exp, zeros_like

def my_rate(particles):
rate = zeros_like(particles.x)
charge_0 = (particles.charge==0)
charge_1 = (particles.charge==1)
rate[charge_0] = r0 * particles.x[charge_0]
rate[charge_1] = r1 * particles.x[charge_1]
return rate

Species( ..., ionization_rate = my_rate )

ionization_electrons

The name of the electron species that ionization_model uses when creating new electrons.

is_test
Default

False

Flag for test particles. If True, this species will contain only test particles which do not participate in the charge and currents.

pusher
Default

"boris"

Type of pusher to be used for this species. Options are:

• "boris": The relativistic Boris pusher

• "borisnr": The non-relativistic Boris pusher

• "vay": The relativistic pusher of J. L. Vay

• "higueracary": The relativistic pusher of A. V. Higuera and J. R. Cary

• "norm": For photon species only (rectilinear propagation)

• "ponderomotive_boris": modified relativistic Boris pusher for species interacting with the laser envelope model. Valid only if the species has non-zero mass

radiation_model
Default

"none"

The radiation reaction model used for this species (see High-energy photon emission & radiation reaction).

• "none": no radiation

• "Landau-Lifshitz" (or ll): Landau-Lifshitz model approximated for high energies

• "corrected-Landau-Lifshitz" (or cll): with quantum correction

• "Niel": a stochastic radiation model based on the work of Niel et al..

• "Monte-Carlo" (or mc): Monte-Carlo radiation model. This model can be configured to generate macro-photons with radiation_photon_species.

This parameter cannot be assigned to photons (mass = 0).

Radiation is emitted only with the "Monte-Carlo" model when radiation_photon_species is defined.

radiation_photon_species

The name of the photon species in which the Monte-Carlo radiation_model will generate macro-photons. If unset (or None), no macro-photon will be created. The target photon species must be have its mass set to 0, and appear after the particle species in the namelist.

This parameter cannot be assigned to photons (mass = 0).

radiation_photon_sampling
Default

1

The number of macro-photons generated per emission event, when the macro-photon creation is activated (see radiation_photon_species). The total macro-photon weight is still conserved.

A large number may rapidly slow down the performances and lead to memory saturation.

This parameter cannot be assigned to photons (mass = 0).

radiation_max_emissions
Default

10

The maximum number of emission Monte-Carlo event a macro-particle can undergo during a timestep. Since this value is used to allocate some buffers, a high value can saturate memory.

This parameter cannot be assigned to photons (mass = 0).

radiation_photon_gamma_threshold
Default

2

The threshold on the photon energy for the macro-photon emission when using the radiation reaction Monte-Carlo process. Under this threshold, the macro-photon from the radiation reaction Monte-Carlo process is not created but still taken into account in the energy balance. The default value corresponds to twice the electron rest mass energy that is the required energy to decay into electron-positron pairs.

This parameter cannot be assigned to photons (mass = 0).

relativistic_field_initialization
Default

False

Flag for relativistic particles. If True, the electromagnetic fields of this species will added to the electromagnetic fields already present in the simulation. This operation will be performed when time equals time_frozen. See Field initialization for relativistic species for details on the computation of the electromagentic fields of a relativistic species. To have physically meaningful results, we recommend to place a species which requires this method of field initialization far from other species, otherwise the latter could experience instantly turned-on unphysical forces by the relativistic species’ fields.

multiphoton_Breit_Wheeler
Default

[None,None]

An list of the name of two species: electrons and positrons created through the Multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair creation. By default, the process is not activated.

This parameter can only be assigned to photons species (mass = 0).

multiphoton_Breit_Wheeler_sampling
Default

[1,1]

A list of two integers: the number of electrons and positrons generated per photon decay in the Multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair creation. The total macro-particle weight is still conserved.

Large numbers may rapidly slow down the performances and lead to memory saturation.

This parameter can only be assigned to photons species (mass = 0).

## Particle Injector¶

Injectors enable to inject macro-particles in the simulation domain from the boundaries. By default, some parameters that are not specified are inherited from the associated species.

Each particle injector has to be defined in a ParticleInjector block:

ParticleInjector(
name      = "injector1",
species   = "electrons1",
box_side  = "xmin",
time_envelope = tgaussian(start=0, duration=10., order=4),

# Parameters inherited from the associated species by default

position_initialization = "species",
momentum_initialization = "rectangular",
mean_velocity = [0.5,0.,0.],
temperature = [1e-30],
number_density = 1,
particles_per_cell = 16,
)

name

The name you want to give to this injector. If you do not specify a name, it will be attributed automatically. The name is useful if you want to inject particles at the same position of another injector.

species

The name of the species in which to inject the new particles

box_side

From where the macro-particles are injected. Options are:

• "xmin"

• "xmax"

• "ymin"

• "ymax"

• "zmax"

• "zmin"

time_envelope
Type

a python function or a time profile

Default

tconstant()

The temporal envelope of the injector.

position_initialization
Default

parameters provided the species

The method for initialization of particle positions. Options are:

• "species" or empty "": injector uses the option of the specified species.

• "regular" for regularly spaced. See regular_number.

• "random" for randomly distributed

• "centered" for centered in each cell

• The name of another injector from which the positions are copied. This option requires (1) that the target injector’s positions are initialized using one of the three other options above.

momentum_initialization
Default

parameters provided the species

The method for initialization of particle momenta. Options are:

• "species" or empty "": injector uses the option of the specified species.

• "maxwell-juettner" for a relativistic maxwellian (see how it is done)

• "rectangular" for a rectangular distribution

mean_velocity
Type

a list of 3 floats or profiles

Default

parameters provided the species

The initial drift velocity of the particles, in units of the speed of light $$c$$.

WARNING: For massless particles, this is actually the momentum in units of $$m_e c$$.

temperature
Type

a list of 3 floats or profiles

Default

parameters provided the species

The initial temperature of the particles, in units of $$m_ec^2$$.

particles_per_cell
Type

float or profile

Default

parameters provided the species

The number of particles per cell to use for the injector.

number_density
charge_density
Type

float or profile

Default

parameters provided the species

The absolute value of the number density or charge density (choose one only) of the particle distribution, in units of the reference density $$N_r$$ (see Units)

regular_number
Type

A list of as many integers as the simulation dimension

Same as for Species. When position_initialization = "regular", this sets the number of evenly-spaced particles per cell in each direction: [Nx, Ny, Nz] in cartesian geometries.

## Particle Merging¶

The macro-particle merging method is documented in the corresponding page. Note that for merging to be able to operate either vectorization or cell sorting must be activated. It is optionnally specified in the Species block:

Species(
....

# Merging
merging_method = "vranic_spherical",
merge_every = 5,
merge_min_particles_per_cell = 16,
merge_max_packet_size = 4,
merge_min_packet_size = 4,
merge_momentum_cell_size = [16,16,16],
merge_discretization_scale = "linear",
# Extra parameters for experts:
merge_min_momentum_cell_length = [1e-10, 1e-10, 1e-10],
merge_accumulation_correction = True,
)

merging_method
Default

"none"

The particle merging method to use:

• "none": no merging

• "vranic_cartesian": method of M. Vranic with a cartesian momentum-space decomposition

• "vranic_spherical": method of M. Vranic with a spherical momentum-space decomposition

merge_every
Default

0

Number of timesteps between each merging event or a time selection.

min_particles_per_cell
Default

4

The minimum number of particles per cell for the merging.

merge_min_packet_size
Default

4

The minimum number of particles per packet to merge. Must be greater or equal to 4.

merge_max_packet_size
Default

4

The maximum number of particles per packet to merge.

merge_momentum_cell_size
Default

[16,16,16]

A list of 3 integers defining the number of sub-groups in each direction for the momentum-space discretization.

merge_discretization_scale
Default

"linear"

The momentum discretization scale:: "linear" or "log". The "log" scale only works with the spherical discretization at the moment.

merge_min_momentum
Default

1e-5

[for experts] The minimum momentum value when the log scale is chosen (merge_discretization_scale = log). This avoids a potential 0 value in the log domain.

merge_min_momentum_cell_length
Default

[1e-10,1e-10,1e-10]

[for experts] The minimum sub-group length for the momentum-space discretization (below which the number of sub-groups is set to 1).

merge_accumulation_correction
Default

True

[for experts] Activates the accumulation correction (see Particle Merging for more information). The correction only works in linear scale.

## Lasers¶

A laser consists in applying oscillating boundary conditions for the magnetic field on one of the box sides. The only boundary condition that supports lasers is "silver-muller" (see EM_boundary_conditions). There are several syntaxes to introduce a laser in Smilei:

Note

The following definitions are given for lasers incoming from the xmin or xmax boundaries. For lasers incoming from ymin or ymax, replace the By profiles by Bx profiles. For lasers incoming from zmin or zmax, replace By and Bz profiles by Bx and By profiles, respectively.

1. Defining a generic wave

Laser(
box_side = "xmin",
space_time_profile = [ By_profile, Bz_profile ]
space_time_profile_AM = [ Br_mode0, Bt_mode0, Br_mode1, Bt_mode1, ... ]
)

box_side
Default

"xmin"

Side of the box from which the laser originates: "xmin", "xmax", "ymin", "ymax", "zmin" or "zmax".

In the cases of "ymin" or "ymax", replace, in the following profiles, coordinates y by x, and fields $$B_y$$ by $$B_x$$.

In the cases of "zmin" or "zmax", replace, in the following profiles, coordinates y by x, coordinates z by y, fields $$B_y$$ by $$B_x$$ and fields $$B_z$$ by $$B_y$$.

space_time_profile
Type

A list of two python functions

The full wave expression at the chosen box side. It is a list of two python functions taking several arguments depending on the simulation dimension: $$(t)$$ for a 1-D simulation, $$(y,t)$$ for a 2-D simulation (etc.) The two functions represent $$B_y$$ and $$B_z$$, respectively. This can be used only in Cartesian geometries.

space_time_profile_AM
Type

A list of maximum 2 x number_of_AM python functions.

These profiles define the first modes of $$B_r$$ and $$B_\theta$$ in the order shown in the above example. Undefined modes are considered zero. This can be used only in AMcylindrical geometry. In this geometry a two-dimensional $$(x,r)$$ grid is used and the laser is injected from a $$x$$ boundary, thus the provided profiles must be a function of $$(r,t)$$.

2. Defining the wave envelopes

Laser(
box_side       = "xmin",
omega          = 1.,
chirp_profile  = tconstant(),
time_envelope  = tgaussian(),
space_envelope = [ By_profile  , Bz_profile   ],
phase          = [ PhiY_profile, PhiZ_profile ],
delay_phase    = [ 0., 0. ]
)


This implements a wave of the form:

\begin{align}\begin{aligned}B_y(\mathbf{x}, t) = S_y(\mathbf{x})\; T\left(t-t_{0y}\right) \;\sin\left( \omega(t) t - \phi_y(\mathbf{x}) \right)\\B_z(\mathbf{x}, t) = S_z(\mathbf{x})\; T\left(t-t_{0z}\right) \;\sin\left( \omega(t) t - \phi_z(\mathbf{x}) \right)\end{aligned}\end{align}

where $$T$$ is the temporal envelope, $$S_y$$ and $$S_z$$ are the spatial envelopes, $$\omega$$ is the time-varying frequency, $$\phi_y$$ and $$\phi_z$$ are the phases, and we defined the delays $$t_{0y} = (\phi_y(\mathbf{x})-\varphi_y)/\omega(t)$$ and $$t_{0z} = (\phi_z(\mathbf{x})-\varphi_z)/\omega(t)$$.

omega
Default

The laser angular frequency.

chirp_profile
Type

a python function or a time profile

Default

tconstant()

The variation of the laser frequency over time, such that $$\omega(t)=$$ omega x chirp_profile $$(t)$$.

Warning

This definition of the chirp profile is not standard. Indeed, $$\omega(t)$$ as defined here is not the instantaneous frequency, $$\omega_{\rm inst}(t)$$, which is obtained from the time derivative of the phase $$\omega(t) t$$.

Should one define the chirp as $$C(t) = \omega_{\rm inst}(t)/\omega$$ (with $$\omega$$ defined by the input parameter $$\mathtt{omega}$$), the user can easily obtain the corresponding chirp profile as defined in Smilei as:

$\mathtt{chirp\_profile}(t) = \frac{1}{t} \int_0^t dt' C(t')\,.$

Let us give as an example the case of a linear chirp, with the instantaneous frequency $$\omega_{\rm inst}(t) = \omega [1+\alpha\,\omega(t-t_0)]$$. $$C(t) = 1+\alpha\,\omega(t-t_0)$$. The corresponding input chirp profile reads:

$\mathtt{chirp\_profile}(t) = 1 - \alpha\, \omega t_0 + \frac{\alpha}{2} \omega t$

Similarly, for a geometric (exponential) chirp such that $$\omega_{\rm inst}(t) = \omega\, \alpha^{\omega t}$$, $$C(t) = \alpha^{\omega t}$$, and the corresponding input chirp profile reads:

$\mathtt{chirp\_profile}(t) = \frac{\alpha^{\omega t} - 1}{\omega t \, \ln \alpha}\,.$
time_envelope
Type

a python function or a time profile

Default

tconstant()

The temporal envelope of the laser.

space_envelope
Type

a list of two python functions or two spatial profiles

Default

[ 1., 0. ]

The two spatial envelopes $$S_y$$ and $$S_z$$.

phase
Type

a list of two python functions or two spatial profiles

Default

[ 0., 0. ]

The two spatially-varying phases $$\phi_y$$ and $$\phi_z$$.

delay_phase
Type

a list of two floats

Default

[ 0., 0. ]

An extra phase for the time envelopes of $$B_y$$ and $$B_z$$. Useful in the case of elliptical polarization where the two temporal profiles might have a slight delay due to the mismatched phase.

3. Defining a 1D planar wave

For one-dimensional simulations, you may use the simplified laser creator:

LaserPlanar1D(
box_side         = "xmin",
a0               = 1.,
omega            = 1.,
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.,
time_envelope    = tconstant()
)

a0
Default

The normalized vector potential

polarization_phi
Default

The angle of the polarization ellipse major axis relative to the X-Y plane, in radians.

ellipticity
Default

The polarization ellipticity: 0 for linear and $$\pm 1$$ for circular.

4. Defining a 2D gaussian wave

For two-dimensional simulations, you may use the simplified laser creator:

LaserGaussian2D(
box_side         = "xmin",
a0               = 1.,
omega            = 1.,
focus            = [50., 40.],
waist            = 3.,
incidence_angle  = 0.,
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.,
time_envelope    = tconstant()
)

focus
Type

A list of two floats [X, Y]

The X and Y positions of the laser focus.

waist

The waist value. Transverse coordinate at which the field is at 1/e of its maximum value.

incidence_angle
Default

The angle of the laser beam relative to the normal to the injection plane, in radians.

time_envelope

Time envelope of the field (not intensity).

5. Defining a 3D gaussian wave

For three-dimensional simulations, you may use the simplified laser creator:

LaserGaussian3D(
box_side         = "xmin",
a0               = 1.,
omega            = 1.,
focus            = [50., 40., 40.],
waist            = 3.,
incidence_angle  = [0., 0.1],
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.,
time_envelope    = tconstant()
)


This is almost the same as LaserGaussian2D, with the focus parameter having now 3 elements (focus position in 3D), and the incidence_angle being a list of two angles, corresponding to rotations around y and z, respectively.

When injecting on "ymin" or "ymax", the incidence angles corresponds to rotations around x and z, respectively.

6. Defining a gaussian wave with Azimuthal Fourier decomposition

For simulations with "AMcylindrical" geometry, you may use the simplified laser creator:

LaserGaussianAM(
box_side         = "xmin",
a0               = 1.,
omega            = 1.,
focus            = [50., 0.],
waist            = 3.,
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.,
time_envelope    = tconstant()
)


Note that here, the focus is given in [x,r] coordinates.

7. Defining a generic wave at some distance from the boundary

In some cases, the laser field is not known at the box boundary, but rather at some plane inside the box. Smilei can pre-calculate the corresponding wave at the boundary using the angular spectrum method. This technique is only available in 2D and 3D cartesian geometries and requires the python packages numpy. A detailed explanation of the method is available. The laser is introduced using:

LaserOffset(
box_side               = "xmin",
space_time_profile     = [ By_profile, Bz_profile ],
offset                 = 10.,
extra_envelope          = tconstant(),
keep_n_strongest_modes = 100,
angle = 10./180.*3.14159
)

space_time_profile
Type

A list of two python functions

The magnetic field profiles at some arbitrary plane, as a function of space and time. The arguments of these profiles are (y,t) in 2D and (y,z,t) in 3D.

offset

The distance from the box boundary to the plane where space_time_profile is defined.

extra_envelope
Type

a python function or a python profile

Default

lambda *z: 1., which means a profile of value 1 everywhere

An extra envelope applied at the boundary, on top of the space_time_profile. This envelope takes two arguments (y, t) in 2D, and three arguments (y, z, t) in 3D. As the wave propagation technique stores a limited number of Fourier modes (in the time domain) of the wave, some periodicity can be obtained in the actual laser. One may thus observe that the laser pulse is repeated several times. The envelope can be used to remove these spurious repetitions.

keep_n_strongest_modes
Default

100

The number of temporal Fourier modes that are kept during the pre-processing. See this page for more details.

angle
Default

Angle between the boundary and the profile’s plane, the rotation being around $$z$$. See this page for more details.

fft_time_window
Default

simulation_time

Time during which the space_time_profile is sampled (calculating the LaserOffset on the whole simulation duration can be costly). Note that the Fourier approach will naturally repeat the signal periodically.

fft_time_step
Default

timestep

Temporal step between each sample of the space_time_profile. Chosing a larger step can help reduce the memory load but will remove high temporal frequencies.

number_of_processes
Default

all available processes

The number of MPI processes that will be used for computing the LaserOffset. Using more processes computes the FFT faster, but too many processes may be very costly in communication. In addition, using too few may not allow the arrays to fit in memory.

file
Default

None

The path to a LaserOffset*.h5 file generated from a previous simulation. This option can help reduce the computation time by re-using the LaserOffset computation from a previous simulation.

## Laser envelope model¶

In all the available geometries, it is possible to model a laser pulse propagating in the x direction using an envelope model (see Laser envelope model for the advantages and limits of this approximation). The fast oscillations of the laser are neglected and all the physical quantities of the simulation, including the electromagnetic fields and their source terms, as well as the particles positions and momenta, are meant as an average over one or more optical cycles. Effects involving characteristic lengths comparable to the laser central wavelength (i.e. sharp plasma density profiles) cannot be modeled with this option.

Note

The envelope model in "AMcylindrical" geometry is implemented only in the hypothesis of cylindrical symmetry, i.e. only one azimuthal mode. Therefore, to use it the user must choose number_of_AM = 1.

Contrarily to a standard Laser initialized with the Silver-Müller boundary conditions, the laser envelope will be entirely initialized inside the simulation box at the start of the simulation.

Currently only one laser pulse of a given frequency propagating in the positive x direction can be speficified. However, a multi-pulse set-up can be initialized if a multi-pulse profile is specified, e.g. if the temporal profile is given by two adjacents gaussian functions. The whole multi-pulse profile would have the same carrier frequency and would propagate in the positive x direction. For the moment it is not possible to specify more than one laser envelope profile, e.g. two counterpropagating lasers, or two lasers with different carrier frequency.

Please note that describing a laser through its complex envelope loses physical accuracy if its characteristic space-time variation scales are too small, i.e. of the order of the laser central wavelength (see Laser envelope model). Thus, space-time profiles with variation scales larger than this length should be used.

1. Defining a generic laser envelope

Following is the generic laser envelope creator

LaserEnvelope(
omega          = 1.,
envelope_solver = 'explicit',
envelope_profile = envelope_profile,
Envelope_boundary_conditions = [["reflective"]]
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.
)

omega
Default

1.

The laser angular frequency.

envelope_profile
Type

a python function or a python profile

Default

None

The laser space-time profile, so if the geometry is 3Dcartesian a function of 4 arguments (3 for space, 1 for time) is necessary. Please note that the envelope will be entirely initialized in the simulation box already at the start of the simulation, so the time coordinate will be applied to the x direction instead of time. It is recommended to initialize the laser envelope in vacuum, separated from the plasma, to avoid unphysical results. Envelopes with variation scales near to the laser wavelength do not satisfy the assumptions of the envelope model (see Laser envelope model), yielding inaccurate results.

envelope_solver
Default

explicit

The solver scheme for the envelope equation.

• "explicit": an explicit scheme based on central finite differences.

• "explicit_reduced_dispersion": the finite difference derivatives along x in the "explicit" solver are substituted by optimized derivatives to reduce numerical dispersion.

Envelope_boundary_conditions
Type

list of lists of strings

Default

[["reflective"]]

For the moment, only reflective boundary conditions are implemented in the resolution of the envelope equation.

polarization_phi
Default

The angle of the polarization ellipse major axis relative to the X-Y plane, in radians. Needed only for ionization.

ellipticity
Default

The polarization ellipticity: 0 for linear and 1 for circular. For the moment, only these two polarizations are available.

2. Defining a 1D laser envelope

Following is the simplified laser envelope creator in 1D

LaserEnvelopePlanar1D(
a0              = 1.,
time_envelope   = tgaussian(center=150., fwhm=40.),
envelope_solver = 'explicit',
Envelope_boundary_conditions = [ ["reflective"] ],
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.
)


3. Defining a 2D gaussian laser envelope

Following is the simplified gaussian laser envelope creator in 2D

LaserEnvelopeGaussian2D(
a0              = 1.,
focus           = [150., 40.],
waist           = 30.,
time_envelope   = tgaussian(center=150., fwhm=40.),
envelope_solver = 'explicit',
Envelope_boundary_conditions = [ ["reflective"] ],
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.
)


4. Defining a 3D gaussian laser envelope

Following is the simplified laser envelope creator in 3D

LaserEnvelopeGaussian3D(
a0              = 1.,
focus           = [150., 40., 40.],
waist           = 30.,
time_envelope   = tgaussian(center=150., fwhm=40.),
envelope_solver = 'explicit',
Envelope_boundary_conditions = [ ["reflective"] ],
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.
)


5. Defining a cylindrical gaussian laser envelope

Following is the simplified laser envelope creator in "AMcylindrical" geometry (remember that in this geometry the envelope model can be used only if number_of_AM = 1)

LaserEnvelopeGaussianAM(
a0              = 1.,
focus           = [150., 40.],
waist           = 30.,
time_envelope   = tgaussian(center=150., fwhm=40.),
envelope_solver = 'explicit',
Envelope_boundary_conditions = [ ["reflective"] ],
polarization_phi = 0.,
ellipticity      = 0.
)


The arguments appearing LaserEnvelopePlanar1D, LaserEnvelopeGaussian2D, LaserEnvelopeGaussian3D and LaserEnvelopeGaussianAM have the same meaning they would have in a normal LaserPlanar1D, LaserGaussian2D, LaserGaussian3D and LaserGaussianAM, with some differences:

time_envelope

Since the envelope will be entirely initialized in the simulation box already at the start of the simulation, the time envelope will be applied in the x direction instead of time. It is recommended to initialize the laser envelope in vacuum, separated from the plasma, to avoid unphysical results. Temporal envelopes with variation scales near to the laser wavelength do not satisfy the assumptions of the envelope model (see Laser envelope model), yielding inaccurate results.

waist

Please note that a waist size comparable to the laser wavelength does not satisfy the assumptions of the envelope model.

It is important to remember that the profile defined through the blocks LaserEnvelopePlanar1D, LaserEnvelopeGaussian2D, LaserEnvelopeGaussian3D correspond to the complex envelope of the laser vector potential component $$\tilde{A}$$ in the polarization direction. The calculation of the correspondent complex envelope for the laser electric field component in that direction is described in Laser envelope model.

Note that only order 2 interpolation and projection are supported in presence of the envelope model for the laser.

The parameters polarization_phi and ellipticity specify the polarization state of the laser. In envelope model implemented in Smilei, they are only used to compute the rate of ionization and the initial momentum of the electrons newly created by ionization, where the polarization of the laser plays an important role (see Ionization). For all other purposes (e.g. the particles equations of motions, the computation of the ponderomotive force, the evolution of the laser), the polarization of the laser plays no role in the envelope model.

## External fields¶

An constant external field can be applied over the whole box (at the beginning of the simulation) using an ExternalField block:

ExternalField(
field = "Ex",
profile = constant(0.01, xvacuum=0.1)
)

field

Field name: "Ex", "Ey", "Ez", "Bx", "By" or "Bz".

profile
Type

float or profile

The initial spatial profile of the applied field. Refer to Units to understand the units of this field.

## Prescribed fields¶

User-defined electromagnetic fields, with spatio-temporal dependence, can be superimposed to the self-consistent Maxwell fields. These fields push the particles but do not participate in the Maxwell solver: they are not self-consistent. They are however useful to describe charged particles’ dynamics in a given electromagnetic field.

This feature is accessible using the PrescribedField block:

from numpy import cos, sin
def myPrescribedProfile(x,t):
return cos(x)*sin(t)

PrescribedField(
field = "Ex",
profile = myPrescribedProfile
)

field

Field name: "Ex", "Ey", "Ez", "Bx_m", "By_m" or "Bz_m".

Warning

When prescribing a magnetic field, always use the time-centered fields "Bx_m", "By_m" or "Bz_m". These fields are those used in the particle pusher, and are defined at integer time-steps.

profile
Type

float or profile

The spatio-temporal profile of the applied field: a python function with arguments (x, t) or (x, y, t), etc. Refer to Units to understand the units of this field.

## Antennas¶

An antenna is an extra current applied during the whole simulation. It is applied using an Antenna block:

Antenna(
field = "Jz",
space_profile = gaussian(0.01),
time_profile = tcosine(base=0., duration=1., freq=0.1)
)

field

The name of the current: "Jx", "Jy" or "Jz".

space_profile
Type

float or profile

The initial spatial profile of the applied antenna. Refer to Units to understand the units of this current.

time_profile
Type

float or profile

The temporal profile of the applied antenna. It multiplies space_profile.

space_time_profile
Type

float or profile

A space & time profile for the antenna (not compatible with space_profile or time_profile). It should have N+1arguments, where N is the dimension of the simulation. For instance (x,t) in 1D, (x,y,t) in 2D, etc.

The function must accept x, y and z either as floats or numpy arrays. If it accepts floats, the return value must be a float. If it accepts numpy arrays, these arrays will correspond to the coordinates of 1 patch, and the return value must be a numpy array of the same size.

## Walls¶

A wall can be introduced using a PartWall block in order to reflect, stop, thermalize or kill particles which reach it:

PartWall(
kind = "reflective",
x = 20.
)

kind

The kind of wall: "reflective", "stop", "thermalize" or "remove".

x
y
z

Position of the wall in the desired direction. Use only one of x, y or z.

## Collisions & reactions¶

Binary collisions & reactions account for short-range Coulomb interactions of particles (shorter than the cell size), but also include other effects such as impact ionization and nuclear reactions. These are gathered under this section because they are treated as binary processes (meaning they happen during the encounter of two macro-particles).

They are specified by one or several Collisions blocks:

Collisions(
species1 = ["electrons1",  "electrons2"],
species2 = ["ions1"],
debug_every = 1000,
coulomb_log = 0.,
coulomb_log_factor = 1.,
ionizing = False,
#      nuclear_reaction = [],
)

species1
species2

Lists of species’ name.

The collisions and reactions will occur between all species under the group species1 and all species under the group species2. For example, to collide all electrons with ions:

species1 = ["electrons1", "electrons2"], species2 = ["ions"]


Warning

This does not make electrons1 collide with electrons2.

The two groups of species have to be completely different OR exactly equal. In other words, if species1 is not equal to species2, then they cannot have any common species. If the two groups are exactly equal, we call this situation intra-collisions.

Note

If both lists species1 and species2 contain only one species, the algorithm is potentially faster than the situation with several species in one or the other list. This is especially true if the machine accepts SIMD vectorization.

every
Default

1

Number of timesteps between each computation of the collisions or reactions. Use a number higher than 1 only if you know the collision frequency is low with respect to the inverse of the timestep.

debug_every
Default

0

Number of timesteps between each output of information about collisions or reactions. If 0, there will be no outputs.

time_frozen
Default

The time during which no collisions or reactions happen, in units of $$T_r$$.

coulomb_log
Default

The Coulomb logarithm.

• If $$= 0$$, the Coulomb logarithm is automatically computed for each collision.

• If $$> 0$$, the Coulomb logarithm is equal to this value.

• If $$< 0$$, collisions are not treated (but other reactions may happen).

coulomb_log_factor
Default

A constant, strictly positive factor that multiplies the Coulomb logarithm, regardless of coulomb_log being automatically computed or set to a constant value. This can help, for example, to compensate artificially-reduced ion masses.

ionizing
Default

False

Collisional ionization is set when this parameter is not False. It can either be set to the name of a pre-existing electron species (where the ionized electrons are created), or to True (the first electron species in species1 or species2 is then chosen for ionized electrons).

One of the species groups must be all electrons (mass = 1), and the other one all ions of the same atomic_number.

nuclear_reaction
Type

a list of strings

Default

None (no nuclear reaction)

A list of the species names for the products of Nuclear reactions that may occur during collisions. You may omit product species if they are not necessary for the simulation.

All members of species1 must be the same type of atoms, which is automatically recognized by their mass and atomic_number. The same applies for all members of species2.

In the current version, only the reaction D(d,n)He³ is available.

nuclear_reaction_multiplier
Type

a float

Default

The rate multiplier for nuclear reactions. It is a positive number that artificially increases the occurence of reactions so that a good statistics is obtained. The number of actual reaction products is adjusted by changing their weights in order to provide a physically correct number of reactions. Leave this number to 0. for an automatic rate multiplier: the final number of produced macro-particles will be of the same order as that of reactants.

The block RadiationReaction() enables to tune the radiation loss properties (see High-energy photon emission & radiation reaction). Many parameters are used for the generation of the cross-section tables for the Monte-Carlo emission process. If the tables already exist in the simulation directory, then they will be read and no new table will be generated by Smilei. Otherwise, Smilei can compute and output these tables.

RadiationReaction(

minimum_chi_continuous = 1e-3,
minimum_chi_discontinuous = 1e-2,
table_path = "<path to the external table folder>",

# Parameters for Niel et al.
Niel_computation_method = "table",

)

minimum_chi_continuous
Default

1e-3

Threshold on the particle quantum parameter particle_chi. When a particle has a quantum parameter below this threshold, radiation reaction is not taken into account.

minimum_chi_discontinuous
Default

1e-2

Threshold on the particle quantum parameter particle_chi between the continuous and the discontinuous radiation model.

table_path
Default

""

Path to the directory that contains external tables for the radiation losses. If empty, the default tables are used. Default tables are embedded in the code. External tables can be generated using the external tool smilei_tables (see Generation of the external tables).

Niel_computation_method
Default

"table"

Method to compute the value of the table h of Niel et al during the emission process. The possible values are:

• "table": the h function is tabulated. The table is computed at initialization or read from an external file.

• "fit5": A polynomial fit of order 5 is used. No table is required. The maximal relative error to the reference data is of maximum of 0.02. The fit is valid for quantum parameters $$\chi$$ between 1e-3 and 10.

• "fit10": A polynomial fit of order 10 is used. No table is required. The precision if better than the fit of order 5 with a maximal relative error of 0.0002. The fit is valid for quantum parameters $$\chi$$ between 1e-3 and 10.

• "ridgers": The fit of Ridgers given in Ridgers et al., ArXiv 1708.04511 (2017)

The use of tabulated values is best for accuracy but not for performance. Table access prevent total vectorization. Fits are vectorizable.

## Multiphoton Breit-Wheeler¶

The block MultiphotonBreitWheeler enables to tune parameters of the multiphoton Breit-Wheeler process and particularly the table generation. For more information on this physical mechanism, see Multiphoton Breit-Wheeler pair creation.

There are three tables used for the multiphoton Breit-Wheeler refers to as the integration_dT_dchi, min_particle_chi_for_xi and xi table.

MultiphotonBreitWheeler(

# Path to the tables
table_path = "<path to the external table folder>",

)

table_path
Default

""

Path to the directory that contains external tables for the multiphoton Breit-Wheeler. If empty, the default tables are used. Default tables are embedded in the code. External tables can be generated using the external tool smilei_tables (see Generation of the external tables).

## Scalar diagnostics¶

Smilei can collect various scalar data, such as total particle energy, total field energy, etc. This is done by including the block DiagScalar:

DiagScalar(
every = 10 ,
vars = ["Utot", "Ukin", "Uelm"],
precision = 10
)

every

Number of timesteps between each output or a time selection.

vars
Default

[]

List of scalars that will be actually output. Note that most scalars are computed anyways.
Omit this argument to include all scalars.
precision
Default

10

Number of digits of the outputs.

Warning

Scalars diagnostics min/max cell are not yet supported in "AMcylindrical" geometry.

The full list of available scalars is given in the table below.

Warning

As some of these quantities are integrated in space and/or time, their units are unusual, and depend on the simulation dimension. All details here.

Space-integrated energy densities

 Utot Total Ukin Total kinetic (in the particles) Uelm Total electromagnetic (in the fields) Uexp Expected (Initial $$-$$ lost $$+$$ gained) Ubal Balance (Utot $$-$$ Uexp) Ubal_norm Normalized balance (Ubal $$/$$ Utot) Uelm_Ex Ex field contribution ($$\int E_x^2 dV /2$$) … same for fields Ey, Ez, Bx_m, By_m and Bz_m Urad Total radiated UmBWpairs Total energy converted into electron-position pairs

Space- & time-integrated Energies lost/gained at boundaries

 Ukin_bnd Time-accumulated kinetic energy exchanged at the boundaries Uelm_bnd Time-accumulated EM energy exchanged at boundaries PoyXminInst Poynting contribution through xmin boundary during the timestep PoyXmin Time-accumulated Poynting contribution through xmin boundary … same for other boundaries Ukin_new Time-accumulated kinetic energy from new particles (injector) Ukin_out_mvw Time-accumulated kinetic energy lost by the moving window Ukin_inj_mvw Time-accumulated kinetic energy gained by the moving window Uelm_out_mvw Time-accumulated EM energy lost by the moving window Uelm_inj_mvw Time-accumulated EM energy gained by the moving window

Particle information

 Zavg_abc Average charge of species “abc” (equals nan if no particle) Dens_abc … its integrated density Ukin_abc … its integrated kinetic energy density Urad_abc … its integrated radiated energy density Ntot_abc … and number of macro-particles

Fields information

 ExMin Minimum of $$E_x$$ ExMinCell … and its location (cell index) ExMax Maximum of $$E_x$$ ExMaxCell … and its location (cell index) … same for fields Ey Ez Bx_m By_m Bz_m Jx Jy Jz Rho

Checkout the post-processing documentation as well.

## Fields diagnostics¶

Smilei can collect various field data (electromagnetic fields, currents and density) taken at the location of the PIC grid, both as instantaneous values and averaged values. This is done by including a block DiagFields:

DiagFields(
#name = "my field diag",
every = 10,
time_average = 2,
fields = ["Ex", "Ey", "Ez"],
#subgrid = None
)

name

Optional name of the diagnostic. Used only for post-processing purposes.

every

Number of timesteps between each output or a time selection.

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often can dramatically slow down the simulation.

time_average
Default

1 (no averaging)

The number of timesteps for time-averaging.

fields
Default

[] (all fields are written)

List of the field names that are saved. By default, they all are. The full list of fields that are saved by this diagnostic:

 Bx By Bz Components of the magnetic field Bx_m By_m Bz_m Components of the magnetic field (time-centered) Ex Ey Ez Components of the electric field Jx Jy Jz Components of the total current Jx_abc Jy_abc Jz_abc Components of the current due to species “abc” Rho Rho_abc Total density Density of species “abc”

In AMcylindrical geometry, the x, y and z indices are replaced by l (longitudinal), r (radial) and t (theta). In addition, the angular Fourier modes are denoted by the suffix _mode_i where i is the mode number. If a field is specified without its associated mode number, all available modes will be included. In summary, the list of fields reads as follows.

 Bl_mode_0, Bl_mode_1, etc. Br_mode_0, Br_mode_1, etc. Bt_mode_0, Bt_mode_1, etc. Components of the magnetic field El_mode_0, El_mode_1, etc. Er_mode_0, Er_mode_1, etc. Et_mode_0, Et_mode_1, etc. Components of the electric field The same notation works for Jl, Jr, Jt, and Rho

In the case of an envelope model for the laser (see Laser envelope model), the following fields are also available:

 Env_A_abs Module of laser vector potential’s complex envelope $$\tilde{A}$$ (component along the transverse direction) Env_Chi Total susceptibility $$\chi$$ Env_E_abs Module of laser electric field’s complex envelope $$\tilde{E}$$ (component along the transverse direction) Env_Ex_abs Module of laser electric field’s complex envelope $$\tilde{E}_x$$ (component along the propagation direction)

Note

To write these last three envelope fields with this diagnostics in "AMcylindrical" geometry, a dedicated block DiagFields must be defined, e.g. with fields = ["Env_A_abs_mode_0", "Env_Chi_mode_0"].

subgrid
Default

None (the whole grid is used)

A list of slices indicating a portion of the simulation grid to be written by this diagnostic. This list must have as many elements as the simulation dimension. For example, in a 3D simulation, the list has 3 elements. Each element can be:

• None, to select the whole grid along that dimension

• an integer, to select only the corresponding cell index along that dimension

• a python slice object to select regularly-spaced cell indices along that dimension.

This can be easily implemented using the numpy.s_ expression. For instance, in a 3D simulation, the following subgrid selects only every other element in each dimension:

from numpy import s_
DiagFields( #...
subgrid = s_[::2, ::2, ::2]
)


while this one selects cell indices included in a contiguous parallelepiped:

subgrid = s_[100:300, 300:500, 300:600]


## Probe diagnostics¶

The fields from the previous section are taken at the PIC grid locations, but it is also possible to obtain the fields at arbitrary locations. These are called probes.

A probe interpolates the fields at either one point (0-D), several points arranged in a line (1-D), or several points arranged in a 2-D or 3-D grid.

Note

• Probes follow the moving window. To obtain the fields at fixed points in the plasma instead, create a cold, chargeless species, and track the particles.

• In “AMcylindrical” geometry, probes are defined with 3D Cartesian coordinates and cannot be separated per mode. Use Field diagnostics for cylindrical coordinates and information per mode.

To add one probe diagnostic, include the block DiagProbe:

DiagProbe(
#name = "my_probe",
every    = 10,
origin   = [1., 1.],
corners  = [
[1.,10.],
[10.,1.],
]
number   = [100, 100],
fields   = ["Ex", "Ey", "Ez"]
)

name

Optional name of the diagnostic. Used only for post-processing purposes.

every

Number of timesteps between each output or a time selection.

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often can dramatically slow down the simulation.

origin
Type

A list of floats, of length equal to the simulation dimensionality.

The coordinates of the origin of the probe grid

corners
vectors
Type

A list of lists of floats.

Defines the corners of the probe grid. Each corner is a list of coordinates (as many as the simulation dimensions).

When using corners, the absolute coordinates of each corner must be specified. When using vectors, the coordinates relative to origin must be specified.

number
Type

A list of integers, one for each dimension of the probe.

The number of points in each probe axis. Must not be defined for a 0-D probe.

fields
Default

[], which means ["Ex", "Ey", "Ez", "Bx", "By", "Bz", "Jx", "Jy", "Jz", "Rho"]

A list of fields among:

• the electric field components "Ex", "Ey", "Ez"

• the magnetic field components "Bx", "By", "Bz"

• the Poynting vector components "PoyX", "PoyY", "PoyZ"

• the current density components "Jx", "Jy", "Jz" and density "Rho"

• the current density "Jx_abc", "Jy_abc", "Jz_abc" and density "Rho_abc" of a given species named "abc"

In the case of an envelope model for the laser (see Laser envelope model), the following fields are also available: "Env_A_abs", "Env_Chi", "Env_E_abs", "Env_Ex_abs".

time_integral
Default

False

If True, the output is integrated over time. As this option forces field interpolation at every timestep, it is recommended to use few probe points.

Examples of probe diagnostics

• 0-D probe in 1-D simulation

DiagProbe(
every = 1,
origin = [1.2]
)

• 1-D probe in 1-D simulation

DiagProbe(
every = 1,
origin  = [1.2],
corners = [[5.6]],
number  = [100]
)

• 1-D probe in 2-D simulation

DiagProbe(
every = 1,
origin  = [1.2, 4.],
corners = [[5.6, 4.]],
number  = [100]
)

• 2-D probe in 2-D simulation

DiagProbe(
every = 1,
origin   = [0., 0.],
corners  = [ [10.,0.], [0.,10.] ],
number   = [100, 100]
)


## ParticleBinning diagnostics¶

A particle binning diagnostic collects data from the macro-particles and processes them during runtime. It does not provide information on individual particles: instead, it produces averaged quantities like the particle density, currents, etc.

The data is discretized inside a “grid” chosen by the user. This grid may be of any dimension.

Examples:

• 1-dimensional grid along the position $$x$$ (gives density variation along $$x$$)

• 2-dimensional grid along positions $$x$$ and $$y$$ (gives density map)

• 1-dimensional grid along the velocity $$v_x$$ (gives the velocity distribution)

• 2-dimensional grid along position $$x$$ and momentum $$p_x$$ (gives the phase-space)

• 1-dimensional grid along the kinetic energy $$E_\mathrm{kin}$$ (gives the energy distribution)

• 3-dimensional grid along $$x$$, $$y$$ and $$E_\mathrm{kin}$$ (gives the density map for several energies)

• 1-dimensional grid along the charge $$Z^\star$$ (gives the charge distribution)

• 0-dimensional grid (simply gives the total integrated particle density)

Each dimension of the grid is called “axis”.

You can add a particle binning diagnostic by including a block DiagParticleBinning() in the namelist, for instance:

DiagParticleBinning(
#name = "my binning",
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electrons1", "electrons2"],
axes = [
["x", 0., 10, 100],
["ekin", 0.1, 100, 1000, "logscale", "edge_inclusive"]
]
)

name

Optional name of the diagnostic. Used only for post-processing purposes.

deposited_quantity

The type of data that is summed in each cell of the grid. Consider reading this to understand the meaning of the weight.

• "weight" results in a number density.

• "weight_charge" results in a charge density.

• "weight_charge_vx" results in the $$j_x$$ current density (same with $$y$$ and $$z$$).

• "weight_p" results in the momentum density (same with $$p_x$$, $$p_y$$ and $$p_z$$).

• "weight_ekin" results in the energy density.

• "weight_vx_px" results in the xx pressure (same with yy, zz, xy, yz and xz).

• "weight_chi" results in the quantum parameter density (only for species with radiation losses).

• with a user-defined python function, an arbitrary quantity can be calculated (the numpy module is necessary). This function should take one argument, for instance particles, which contains the attributes x, y, z, px, py, pz, charge, weight, chi and id. Each of these attributes is a numpy array containing the data of all particles in one patch. The function must return a numpy array of the same shape, containing the desired deposition of each particle. For example, defining the following function:

def stuff(particles):
return particles.weight * particles.px


passed as deposited_quantity=stuff, the diagnostic will sum the weights $$\times\; p_x$$.

You may also pass directly an implicit (lambda) function using:

deposited_quantity = lambda p: p.weight * p.px

every

The number of time-steps between each output, or a time selection.

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often can dramatically slow down the simulation.

time_average
Default

1

The number of time-steps during which the data is averaged before output.

species

A list of one or several species’ name. All these species are combined into the same diagnostic.

axes

A list of axes that define the grid. There may be as many axes as wanted (there may be zero axes).

Syntax of one axis: [type, min, max, nsteps, "logscale", "edge_inclusive"]

• type is one of:

• "x", "y", "z": spatial coordinates ("moving_x" with a moving window)

• "px", "py", "pz", "p": momenta

• "vx", "vy", "vz", "v": velocities

• "gamma", "ekin": energies

• "chi": quantum parameter

• "charge": the particles’ electric charge

• or a python function with the same syntax as the deposited_quantity. Namely, this function must accept one argument only, for instance particles, which holds the attributes x, y, z, px, py, pz, charge, weight and id. Each of these attributes is a numpy array containing the data of all particles in one patch. The function must return a numpy array of the same shape, containing the desired quantity of each particle that will decide its location in the histogram binning.

• The axis is discretized for type from min to max in nsteps bins.

• The min and max may be set to "auto" so that they are automatically computed from all the particles in the simulation. This option can be bad for performances.

• The optional keyword logscale sets the axis scale to logarithmic instead of linear (bins become uneven).

• The optional keyword edge_inclusive includes the particles outside the range [min, max] into the extrema bins.

Examples of particle binning diagnostics

• Variation of the density of species electron1 from $$x=0$$ to 1, every 5 time-steps, without time-averaging

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["x",    0.,    1.,    30] ]
)

• Density map from $$x=0$$ to 1, $$y=0$$ to 1

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["x",    0.,    1.,    30],
["y",    0.,    1.,    30] ]
)

• Velocity distribution from $$v_x = -0.1$$ to $$0.1$$

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["vx",   -0.1,    0.1,    100] ]
)

• Phase space from $$x=0$$ to 1 and from $$px=-1$$ to 1

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["x",    0.,    1.,    30],
["px",   -1.,   1.,    100] ]
)

• Energy distribution from 0.01 to 1 MeV in logarithmic scale. Note that the input units are $$m_ec^2 \sim 0.5$$ MeV

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["ekin",    0.02,    2.,   100, "logscale"] ]
)

• $$x$$-$$y$$ density maps for three bands of energy: $$[0,1]$$, $$[1,2]$$, $$[2,\infty]$$. Note the use of edge_inclusive to reach energies up to $$\infty$$

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["x",    0.,    1.,    30],
["y",    0.,    1.,    30],
["ekin", 0.,    6.,    3,  "edge_inclusive"] ]
)

• Charge distribution from $$Z^\star =0$$ to 10

DiagParticleBinning(
deposited_quantity = "weight",
every = 5,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electron1"],
axes = [ ["charge",    -0.5,   10.5,   11] ]
)


## Screen diagnostics¶

A screen collects data from the macro-particles when they cross a surface. It processes this data similarly to the particle binning diagnostics as it makes a histogram of the macro-particle properties. The only difference is that the histogram is made only by the particles that cross the surface.

You can add a screen by including a block DiagScreen() in the namelist, for instance:

DiagScreen(
#name = "my screen",
shape = "plane",
point = [5., 10.],
vector = [1., 0.],
direction = "canceling",
deposited_quantity = "weight",
species = ["electron"],
axes = [["a", -10.*l0, 10.*l0, 40],
["px", 0., 3., 30]],
every = 10
)

name

Optional name of the diagnostic. Used only for post-processing purposes.

shape

The shape of the screen surface: "plane", "sphere", or "cylinder".

point
Type

A list of floats [X] in 1D, [X,Y] in 2D, [X,Y,Z] in 3D

The coordinates of a point that defines the screen surface: a point of the "plane", the center of the "sphere", or a point on the "cylinder" axis.

vector
Type

A list of floats [X] in 1D, [X,Y] in 2D, [X,Y,Z] in 3D

The coordinates of a vector that defines the screen surface: the normal to the "plane", a radius of the "sphere". or the axis of the "cylinder" (in the latter case, the vector norm defines the cylinder radius).

direction
Default

"both"

Determines how particles are counted depending on which side of the screen they come from.

• "both" to account for both sides.

• "forward" for only the ones in the direction of the vector.

• "backward" for only the ones in the opposite direction.

• "canceling" to count negatively the ones in the opposite direction.

deposited_quantity

Identical to the deposited_quantity of particle binning diagnostics.

every

The number of time-steps between each output, or a time selection.

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often can dramatically slow down the simulation.

species

A list of one or several species’ name. All these species are combined into the same diagnostic.

axes

A list of “axes” that define the grid of the histogram. It is identical to that of particle binning diagnostics, with the addition of four types of axes:

• If shape="plane", then "a" and "b" are the axes perpendicular to the vector.

• If shape="sphere", then "theta" and "phi" are the angles with respect to the vector.

• If shape="cylinder", then "a" is along the cylinder axis and "phi" is the angle around it.

A radiation spectrum diagnostic computes (at a given time) the instantaneous power spectrum following from the incoherent emission of high-energy photons by accelerated charge (see High-energy photon emission & radiation reaction for more details on the emission process and its implementation in Smilei).

It is similar to the particle binning diagnostics, with an extra axis of binning: the emitted photon energy. The other axes remain available to the user.

A radiation spectrum diagnostic is defined by a block RadiationSpectrum():

DiagRadiationSpectrum(
every = 5,
flush_every = 1,
time_average = 1,
species = ["electrons1", "electrons2"],
photon_energy_axis = [0., 1000., 100, 'logscale'],
axes = []
)

name

Optional name of the diagnostic. Used only for post-processing purposes.

every

The number of time-steps between each output, or a time selection.

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often can dramatically slow down the simulation.

time_average
Default

1

The number of time-steps during which the data is averaged before output.

species

A list of one or several species’ name that emit the radiation. All these species are combined into the same diagnostic.

photon_energy_axis

The axis of photon energies (in units of $$m_e c^2$$). The syntax is similar to that of particle binning diagnostics.

Syntax: [min, max, nsteps, "logscale"]

axes

An additional list of “axes” that define the grid. There may be as many axes as wanted (there may be zero axes). Their syntax is the same that for “axes” of a particle binning diagnostics.

• Time-integrated over the full duration of the simulation:

DiagRadiationSpectrum(
every = Nt,
time_average = Nt,
species = ["electrons"],
photon_energy_axis = [0., 1000., 100, 'logscale'],
axes = []
)

• Angularly-resolved instantaneous radiation spectrum. The diagnostic considers that all electrons emit radiation in the direction of their velocity:

from numpy import arctan2, pi

def angle(p):
return arctan2(p.py,p.px)

every = 10,
species = ["electrons"],
photon_energy_axis = [0., 1000., 100, 'logscale'],
axes = [
[angle,-pi,pi,90]
]
)


## TrackParticles diagnostics¶

A particle tracking diagnostic records the macro-particle positions and momenta at various timesteps. Typically, this is used for plotting trajectories.

You can add a tracking diagnostic by including a block DiagTrackParticles() in the namelist, for instance:

DiagTrackParticles(
species = "electron",
every = 10,
#    flush_every = 100,
#    filter = my_filter,
#    attributes = ["x", "px", "py", "Ex", "Ey", "Bz"]
)

species

The name of the species to be tracked.

every
Default

0

Number of timesteps between each output of particles trajectories, or a time selection. If non-zero, the particles positions will be tracked and written in a file named TrackParticlesDisordered_abc.h5 (where abc is the species’ name).

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file for tracked particles is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often can dramatically slow down the simulation.

filter

A python function giving some condition on which particles are tracked. If none provided, all particles are tracked. To use this option, the numpy package must be available in your python installation.

The function must have one argument, that you may call, for instance, particles. This object has several attributes x, y, z, px, py, pz, charge, weight and id. Each of these attributes are provided as numpy arrays where each cell corresponds to one particle. The function must return a boolean numpy array of the same shape, containing True for particles that should be tracked, and False otherwise.

The following example selects all the particles that verify $$-1<p_x<1$$ or $$p_z>3$$:

def my_filter(particles):
return (particles.px>-1.)*(particles.px<1.) + (particles.pz>3.)


Warning

The px, py and pz quantities are not exactly the momenta. They are actually the velocities multiplied by the lorentz factor, i.e., $$\gamma v_x$$, $$\gamma v_y$$ and $$\gamma v_z$$. This is true only inside the filter function (not for the output of the diagnostic).

Note

The id attribute contains the particles identification number. This number is set to 0 at the beginning of the simulation. Only after particles have passed the filter, they acquire a positive id.

Note

For advanced filtration, Smilei provides the quantity Main.iteration, accessible within the filter function. Its value is always equal to the current iteration number of the PIC loop. The current time of the simulation is thus Main.iteration * Main.timestep.

attributes
Default

["x","y","z","px","py","pz","w"]

A list of strings indicating the particle attributes to be written in the output. The attributes may be the particles’ spatial coordinates ("x", "y", "z"), their momenta ("px", "py", "pz"), their electrical charge ("q"), their statistical weight ("w"), their quantum parameter ("chi", only for species with radiation losses) or the fields interpolated at their positions ("Ex", "Ey", "Ez", "Bx", "By", "Bz").

## Performances diagnostics¶

The performances diagnostic records information on the computational load and timers for each MPI process or for each patch in the simulation.

Only one block DiagPerformances() may be added in the namelist, for instance:

DiagPerformances(
every = 100,
#    flush_every = 100,
#    patch_information = True,
)

every
Default

0

Number of timesteps between each output, or a time selection.

flush_every
Default

1

Number of timesteps or a time selection.

When flush_every coincides with every, the output file is actually written (“flushed” from the buffer). Flushing too often might dramatically slow down the simulation.

patch_information
Default

False

If True, some information is calculated at the patch level (see Performances()) but this may impact the code performances.

## Time selections¶

Several components (mainly diagnostics) may require a selection of timesteps to be chosen by the user. When one of these timesteps is reached, the diagnostics will output data. A time selection is given through the parameter every and is a list of several numbers.

You may chose between five different syntaxes:

every = [               period                    ] # Syntax 1
every = [       start,  period                    ] # Syntax 2
every = [ start,  end,  period                    ] # Syntax 3
every = [ start,  end,  period,  repeat           ] # Syntax 4
every = [ start,  end,  period,  repeat,  spacing ] # Syntax 5


where

• start is the first timestep of the selection (defaults to 0);

• end is the last timestep of the selection (defaults to ∞);

• period is the separation between outputs (defaults to 1);

• repeat indicates how many outputs to do at each period (defaults to 1);

• spacing is the separation between each repeat (defaults to 1).

For more clarity, this graph illustrates the five syntaxes for time selections:

Tips

• The syntax every = period is also accepted.

• Any value set to 0 will be replaced by the default value.

• Special case: every=0 means no output.

• The numbers may be non-integers (apart from repeat). The closest timesteps are chosen.

## Checkpoints¶

The simulation state can be saved (dumped) at given times (checkpoints) in order to be later restarted at that point.

A few things are important to know when you need dumps and restarts.

• Do not restart the simulation in the same directory as the previous one. Files will be overwritten, and errors may occur. Create a new directory for your restarted simulation.

• Manage your disk space: each MPI process dumps one file, and the total can be significant.

• The restarted runs must have the same namelist as the initial simulation, except the Checkpoints block, which can be modified.

Checkpoints(
# restart_dir = "dump1",
dump_step = 10000,
dump_minutes = 240.,
exit_after_dump = True,
keep_n_dumps = 2,
)


Parameters to save the state of the current simulation

dump_step
Default

0

The number of timesteps between each dump. If 0, no dump is done.

dump_minutes
Default

0.

The number of minutes between each dump. If 0., no dump is done.

May be used in combination with dump_step.

exit_after_dump
Default

True

If True, the code stops after the first dump. If False, the simulation continues.

keep_n_dumps
Default

2

This tells Smilei to keep, in the current run, only the last n dumps. Older dumps will be overwritten.

The default value, 2, saves one extra dump in case of a crash during the next dump.

file_grouping
Default

0 (no grouping)

The maximum number of checkpoint files that can be stored in one directory. Subdirectories are created to accomodate for all files. This is useful on filesystem with a limited number of files per directory.

dump_deflate

to do

Parameters to restart from a previous simulation

restart_dir
Default

None

The directory of a previous run from which Smilei should restart. For the first run, do not specify this parameter.

This path must either absolute or be relative to the current directory.

Note

In many situations, the restarted runs will have the exact same namelist as the initial simulation, except this restart_dir parameter, which points to the previous simulation folder. You can use the same namelist file, and simply add an extra argument when you launch the restart:

mpirun ... ./smilei mynamelist.py "Checkpoints.restart_dir='/path/to/previous/run'"

restart_number
Default

None

The number of the dump (in the previous run) that should be used for the restart. For the first run, do not specify this parameter.

In a previous run, the simulation state may have been dumped several times. These dumps are numbered 0, 1, 2, etc. until the number keep_n_dumps.

## Variables defined by Smilei¶

Smilei passes the following variables to the python interpreter for use in the namelist. They should not be re-defined by the user!

smilei_mpi_rank

The MPI rank of the current process.

smilei_mpi_size

The total number of MPI processes.