An implicit particle code with exact energy and charge conservation for electromagnetic studies of dense plasmas

A collisional particle code based on implicit energy- and charge-conserving methods is presented. The particle-suppressed Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov method is implemented as a fixed-point iteration method for the particle positions. The model can exactly conserve global energy and local charge and can efficiently use time steps larger than the plasma period. The algorithm's ability to simulate dense plasmas accurately and efficiently is quantified by simulating the dynamic compression of a plasma slab via a magnetic piston in a 1D planar geometry. Analogous results using A) 2D planar and B) 1D cylindrical geometries are presented.