LoKI-B++ released as part of PLASIMO
The LisbOn KInetics Boltzmann solver (LoKI-B in MATLAB and LoKI-B++ in C++) is an open-source tool, distributed under the GNU general public license 3.0, and developed with a flexible and extensible object-oriented design, following an ontology that prioritizes the clear separation between tool and data.
LoKI-B solves the space independent form of the two-term electron Boltzmann equation for non-magnetised non-equilibrium low-temperature plasmas, excited by DC/HF electric fields or time-dependent (non-oscillatory) electric fields from different gases or gas mixtures. The tool uses a stationary description for DC fields, a Fourier time-expansion description for HF fields, and a time-dependent description for time-varying fields.
Plasma Matters B.V. (PM) is a software company that specializes in plasma modelling and numerical simulations. Plasma Matters offers scientific expertise and the industry-strength plasma simulation software PLASIMO to academic and industrial customers that employ plasma technologies.
PM is proudly celebrating its 10th anniversary - a decade of inspiring projects, innovative achievements, and joyful collaborations. To commemorate this milestone, PM has released PLASIMO 10.0 on October 1st, demonstrating the growth of this versatile platform for plasma modelling.
PLASIMO 10 now offers built-in support for LoKI-B++, to self-consistently calculate electron energy distribution functions for the Global Model and the Drift-Diffusion model.
Coincidently with the release of PLASIMO 10, v25.10 of LoKI-B and LoKI-B++ (the very first one, in the case of the C++ code) were also released.
LoKI-B++ is a C++ counterpart of MATLAB’s LoKI-B, replicating essentially all of its original features. Both LoKI-B and LoKI-B++ are part of the LoKI tool suite and are freely available at https://github.com/LoKI-suite, for users to perform electron kinetics calculations, and for modelers / developers who are invited to continue testing the tool and/or to contribute for its development and improvement.
LoKI-B and LoKI-B++ leverage on the scientific heritage in the field of non-equilibrium plasma kinetics of the Portuguese group N-Plasmas Reactive: Modelling and Engineering (N-PRiME) of Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear with Instituto Superior Técnico. Several numerical improvements and updates have recently been implemented in LoKI-B, and further developments are ongoing, as part of a fruitful collaboration with the Departamento de Física of Facultad de Ciencias with Universidad de Córdoba and the group Elementary Processes in Gas Discharges (EPG) of the Eindhoven University of Technology which was responsible for the development of LoKI-B++.
