lasy v0.1

Abstract

Lasy is a Python library that facilitates numerical simulations of the interaction of complex laser pulses with plasmas. More specifically, lasy offers many ways to define complex laser pulses (e.g. from commonly-known analytical formulas, from experimental measurements, etc.) and then computes and saves the corresponding laser field in a standardized file. This file can then be read by external plasma simulation codes, that will then simulate the interaction between the complex laser pulse and a plasma. Lasy is useful for instance for numerical simulations of plasma-based particle accelerators, plasma-based laser amplification, etc. Lasy avoids having to duplicate the code that defines complex laser pulses in each plasma simulation codes, and instead provides a trusted, centralized implementation.