Axisymmetric Charge-Conservative Electromagnetic Particle Simulation Algorithm on Unstructured Grids: Application to Microwave Vacuum Electronic Devices

We present a 2.5-dimensional charge-conservative electromagnetic particle-in-cell (EM-PIC) algorithm optimized for the analysis of vacuum electronic devices (VED) with cylindrical symmetry (axisymmetry). We explore the axisymmetry present in the device geometry, fields, and sources to reduce the dimensionality of the problem from 3D to 2D. Further, we explore `transformation optics' principles to map the original problem in polar coordinates to an equivalent problem on Cartesian coordinates with an effective (artificial) inhomogeneous medium introduced. The resulting problem in the meridian plane is discretized using an unstructured 2D mesh considering TE-polarized fields and properly scaled charges. EM field and source variables (node-based charges and edge-based currents) are expressed as differential forms of various degrees, and discretized using Whitney forms. Using leapfrog time integration, we obtain a mixed finite-element time-domain scheme for the full-discrete Maxwell's equations. We achieve a local and explicit time-update for the field equations by employing the sparse approximate inverse (SPAI) algorithm. Interpolating field values to particles' positions for solving Newton-Lorentz equations of motion is also done via Whitney forms. Particles are advanced using the Boris algorithm with a relativistic correction. In the scatter step, we apply a radial scaling factor on top of a charge-conserving scatter scheme tailored for 2-dimensional unstructured grids. As validation examples, we demonstrate simulations that investigate the physical performance of VEDs designed to harness particle bunching effects arising from the coherent (resonance) Cerenkov electron beam interactions within micromachined slow-wave structures.