Speaker
Description
Vacuum arc development has been previously studied by simulations focusing on different aspects of plasma initiation, surface modification, heating and emission. We describe the development of a model that concurrently couples particle-in-cell (PIC) plasma simulation and molecular dynamics (MD) to study how these phenomena are linked in vacuum arcing. Surface morphology changes influence emission and heating characteristics of metal surfaces under high electric field, which in turn leads to differences in plasma development. Bombardment of ions from this plasma can result in modification of the surface by processes such as sputtering. This coupling is achieved by a particle exchange process between the PIC and MD systems. We simulate the development of the initial plasma around a nanotip and the resulting surface effects using the FEMOCS code. Additionally, we simulate crater formation by energetic ions at a later stage in arcing using molecular dynamics. These developments focus on the initial and final stages of vacuum arcing, aiming to better understand the process from start to finish.
| Please choose topic that matches most closely your research | Modeling and simulations |
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