QUICKSILVER emdash A general tool for electromagnetic PIC simulation

The dramatic increase in computational capability that has occurred over the last ten years has allowed fully electromagnetic simulations of large, complex, three-dimensional systems to move progressively from impractical, to expensive, and recently, to routine and widespread. This is particularly true for systems that require the motion of free charge to be self-consistently treated. The QUICKSILVER electromagnetic Particle-In-Cell (EM-PIC) code has been developed at Sandia National Laboratories to provide a general tool to simulate a wide variety of such systems. This tool has found widespread use for many diverse applications, including high-current electron and ion diodes, magnetically insulated power transmission systems, high-power microwave oscillators, high-frequency digital and analog integrated circuit packages, microwave integrated circuit components, antenna systems, radar cross-section applications, and electromagnetic interaction with biological material. This paper will give a brief overview of QUICKSILVER and provide some thoughts on its future development. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics