Modeling experimental plasma diagnostics in the FLASH code: proton radiography

Proton radiography is an important diagnostic tool for laser plasma experiments and for studying magnetized plasmas. We describe a new synthetic proton radiography diagnostic recently implemented into the FLASH code. FLASH is an open source, finite-volume Eulerian, spatially adaptive radiation hydrodynamics and magneto-hydrodynamics code that incorporates capabilities for a broad range of physical processes. Proton radiography is modeled through the use of the (relativistic) Lorentz force equation governing the motion of protons through 3D domains. Both instantaneous (one time step) and time-resolved (over many time steps) proton radiography can be simulated. The code module is also equipped with several different setup options (beam structure and detector screen placements) to reproduce a large variety of experimental proton radiography designs. FLASH’s proton radiography diagnostic unit can be used either during runtime or in post-processing of simulation results. FLASH is publicly available at flash.uchicago.edu.