Modeling Laser Wake Field Acceleration with the Quasi-Static PIC Code QuickPIC

We use the Quasi-static Particle-In-Cell code QuickPIC to model laser wake field acceleration, in both uniform and parabolic plasma channels within current state of the art experimental laser and plasma parameters. QuickPIC uses the quasi-static approximation, which allows the separation of the plasma and laser evolution, as they respond in different time scales. The laser is evolved with a larger time step, that correctly resolves distances of the order of the Rayleigh length, according to the ponderomotive guiding center approximation, while the plasma response is calculated through a quasi-static field solver for each transverse 2d slice. We have performed simulations that show very good agreement between QuickPIC and three dimensional simulations using the full PIC code OSIRIS. We have scanned laser intensities from those for which linear plasma waves are excited to those for which the plasma response is highly nonlinear. For these simulations, QuickPIC was 2-3 orders of magnitude faster than OSIRIS