Numerical simulation of laser induced weakly ionized helium plasma process by lattice boltzmann method

Generation process of laser induced weakly ionized helium plasma is simulated using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Maxwell equations, which are used to model the propagation of laser, are calculated by the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Employing coefficients of distribution functions, processes of multi-photon ionization, electron impact ionization and three-body recombination are included in Boltzmann equations. Using D2Q9 model in LBM, number densities of particles in plasma can be obtained after solving Boltzmann equations. For the energy transformation in plasma, the finite volume method (FVM) is applied to calculate the macroscopic energy equations directly coming from the continuous Boltzmann equations. Interaction between laser and plasma as well as laser induced weakly ionized plasma are demonstrate to validate the hybrid model.