Visualization and Analysis of Large-Scale Atomistic Simulations of Plasma–Surface Interactions

We present a simulation–visualization pipeline that uses the LAMMPS Molecular Dynamics Simulator and the Visualization Toolkit to create a visualization and analysis environment for atomistic simulations of plasma–surface interactions. These simulations are used to understand the origin of fuzz-like, microscopic damage to tungsten and other metal surfaces by helium. The proposed pipeline serves both as an aid to visualization, i.e. drawing the surfaces of gas bubbles and voids/cavities in the metal, as well as a means of analysis, i.e. extracting various statistics and gas bubble evolution details. The result is a better understanding of the void and bubble formation process that is difficult if not impossible to get using conventional atomistic visualization software.