Submission of Calculations

Last update: July 03, 2025

• This document is intended to define the particulars of the workshop submissions. In the sections below we will define the case problems, the comparison quantities which we require and the detailed format of the data files that we will be expecting. To most directly compare kinetics codes, most cases are completely defined by a specification of the electron temperature, electron density, and (possibly) a radiation field. These cases are zero-dimensional and do not admit the possibility of plasma non-uniformity or boundary effects. For cases with a non-zero plasma size, the specified electron density is the spatially-averaged value (appropriate for use in a zero-dimensional calculation). In all cases, we assume that the plasma is electrically neutral, with the electron density and ion density connected through the condition of charge neutrality. Generally, there is no consideration of heavy-particle interactions.

• It would be most convenient if the contributor(s) created an archive file containing all the individual result files. Submissions employing any modern data compression techniques (e.g., zip/gzip/bzip2/arj/lha/rar) along with the Unix tar archiving utility will be accepted. The submission files should have the name of the codes and the contributor as the parts of the file names (e.g., nomad_ralchenko_case1.tgz). Please contact Yuri Ralchenko (email: yuri.ralchenko@nist.gov) for information on file uploads when ready to submit. 

• The PDF file (click to download) contains additional submission information, including the 'Submission File Description,' 'Submission File Format,' and 'Definitions of Requested Quantities.'.

JUSTIFICATION OF CASES AND DETAILS

Each calculation shown in the preceding table will be referenced by a case name, which is to be given in the submission data file (described further below). The case name is constructed by appending a suffix to the Case_ID from the table. The suffix consists of between one and three digits. For instance, the Kr case for 5000 eV/3×1021cm-3/10-4 cm will be referred to as. Similarly, Ar case for 50 eV will be TDAr2. The Cu cases will have three-digit suffices – the third digit will be 1 for hot electrons or 2 for the diluted radiation field, e.g., Cu211.

The submissions file should be named as <case>.<contributor_name>.<code_name>, so that Dr. A. Einstein’s calculations with his code GToE for one of the cases would be in the file kr112.einstein.gtoe (case insensitive).

1. Time-dependent C and Ar

TD-C was at the very first NLTE workshop back in 1996 so we’d like to see the level of agreement reached since ~30 years ago. Nowadays the Beyond-EUV (or Blue-X) lithography researchers also discuss such recombination from bare nuclei for production of strong emission in Ly-α. As mentioned above, all population at time t=0 should be in the bare ion.

2. Steady-state Cu

K-shell fluorescence lines in transition metals are increasingly being considered as diagnostics for warm, near-solid-density plasmas created in implosions, compression experiments, and at X-ray free electron lasers. Line shifts and broadening due to ionization and density effects are of particular interest.

3. Steady-state Kr

This case follows up the optically-thin case for Kr from the previous workshop. In the present case, optical depths for the He-like resonance line will be on the order of 20-200. We hope to explore the competing effects of opacity and Stark broadening on the spectra and kinetics.

4. Steady-state Xe

L-shell Xe lines are planned to be used for diagnostics of magnetic fusion devices. However, M-shell W lines are also in the same spectral region which may hamper this diagnostics. While W spectroscopy has already been extensively explored at NLTE workshops, Xe has not been studied for some time.