A rasterization-based ray-tracing method for laser–plasma interactions

This paper introduces a novel ray-tracing methodology for various gradient-index materials, particularly plasmas. The proposed approach utilizes adaptive-step Runge–Kutta integration to compute ray trajectories while incorporating an innovative rasterization step for ray energy deposition. By removi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tao Tao, Zhujun Li, Kejian Qian, Xian Jiang, Guannan Zheng, Rui Yan, Haoran Liu, Qing Jia, Jun Li, Hang Ding, Jian Zheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:High Power Laser Science and Engineering
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Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2095471925000222/type/journal_article
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Summary:This paper introduces a novel ray-tracing methodology for various gradient-index materials, particularly plasmas. The proposed approach utilizes adaptive-step Runge–Kutta integration to compute ray trajectories while incorporating an innovative rasterization step for ray energy deposition. By removing the requirement for rays to terminate at cell interfaces – a limitation inherent in earlier cell-confined approaches – the numerical formulation of ray motion becomes independent of specific domain geometries. This facilitates a unified and concise tracing method compatible with all commonly used curvilinear coordinate systems in laser–plasma simulations, which were previously unsupported or prohibitively complex under cell-confined frameworks. Numerical experiments demonstrate the algorithm’s stability and versatility in capturing diverse ray physics across reduced-dimensional planar, cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems. We anticipate that the rasterization-based approach will pave the way for the development of a generalized ray-tracing toolkit applicable to a broad range of fluid simulations and synthetic optical diagnostics.
ISSN:2095-4719
2052-3289