Revision History

The following lists revision summaries for PROPACEOS:

Version 7.2.0

• Transitions tab, under Atomic Processes, contains new options:
  
  • Set Stark broadening modifiers: The calculated Stark widths for selected transitions can be modified by specifying a constant value or by specifying a multiplier. The modified values can be applied:
    • To a single element or to all elements
    • To a single ion stage or to all ion stages
    • To transitions with specified upper and lower levels
    • To transitions of a specified type (All, Autoionizing or Non-autoionizing)

    To modify the Stark widths, go to the Atomic Processes panel, click on the Advanced button, select the Transitions tab and click on the Set Stark broadening modifiers... button. The dialog shown below will appear:

    

    Clicking on the Add button adds a row with default settings. The element, ionization stage, upper and lower level principal quantum numbers, and the transition type can all be chosen via combo boxes. There is an option to use with a multiplier on the model line width or a constant value for the FWHM (full width at half-max). When a constant value is specified, the units to be used are specified in the combo box in the upper right of the dialog. The choices are: eV, Angstroms or milliAngstroms.

    In cases where transitions are included in more than one row, the lowest row that includes the transition will be the one to take precedence.

    Line width modifiers can now be imported/exported to data files so that they can be used in other SPECT3D or PrismSPECT applications. To do this, in the Set Stark Broadening Modifiers dialog, select the File | Import (Export) Line Broadening Modifiers menu items

    Line Profile Data: This feature is a beta version and not available to all users.

    To modify the line shape of K-shell lines where temperature and density dependent tabulated profiles are available, click on the check box and browse for the file.

    

    Line profiles supplied by Prism are based on simulation results from the Multi-Electron Radiator Lineshape (MERL) code¹.

    1.      R. C. Mancini, et al, "Calculational Aspects of the Stark Line Broadening of Multi-Electron Ions in Plasmas", Comp. Phys. Commun. 63, p. 314 (1991).

     

  • Include dense plasma shift: If checked, spectral lines will be shifted in dense plasmas (Stark shift). This feature is in beta stage and is not available to all users.
  • Set transition modifiers: Users can adjust transition energies and transition strengths (i.e., oscillator strengths for bound-bound transitions, photoionization cross sections for bound-free transitions). To do this, click on the Set Transition Modifiers button on the Transitions tab in the Atomic Processes widget.

    If the table containing the transition data has not been previously displayed, a message is shown warning the user that the transition data needs to be read in from the atomic data files. Depending on the number of elements and their atomic numbers, this process can take some time.

    The transitions from the atomic data files are shown in a table at the top of the widget. To modify transition parameters, select one or more transitions in the upper table, and click on the Add to Selected Transitions button.

    In the upper table, transitions can be filtered by:

    • Element
    • Ionization stage
    • Photon energy or wavelength
    • Oscillator strength value
    • Type of transition (bound-free, bound-bound, satellites, and/or virtual transitions can be excluded).

    Click the Update button to apply the selected filters.

    

     

    In the lower table, adjustments to transition energies and transition strengths can be made as follows:

    • The transition energies can be shown in either eV or Angstroms by selecting the units in the Wavelength Modifier Units combo box.
    • The transition energies/wavelengths can be adjusted either by specifying absolute values or by specifying a shift using the Wavelength Modifier combo box.
    • Transition strengths can be specified either by absolute values or by using a multiplier according to the setting in the Transition Strength Modifier combo box.

    For individual transitions, values can be set by typing directly into the table. Values can also be set for multiple transitions by selecting them, then right-clicking and selecting an option from the context menu.

    The changes will be applied only if the check boxes for the transition are checked.

    The adjusted values are utilized both in computing photoexcitation/photoionization rates and resultant spectra.

     

    

     

    Transition modifiers can also be imported/exported to data files so that they can be used in other SPECT3D or PrismSPECT applications. To do this, in the Set Transition Modifiers dialog, select the File | Import (Export) Transition Modifiers menu items.

  • Continuum Lowering:
  • Pressure ionization model. Available options are: None, Hummer & Mihalas occupation probability (default), Stewart & Pyatt, Ecker & Kröll.
  • Energy scaling factor. Scaling factor can be applied to ΔI computed by pressure ionization model. Default is 1.0.
• Users with activation-based licensure may now deactivate their license, in order to use that license seat on a different computer instead. The option is located under License Manager in the Help menu:



A button is available for online deactivation. Alternatively, manual deactivation is available via email contact with Prism.



• Limit of 5 elements in a mixture with QEOS model is relaxed, an arbitrary number of elements is now supported.
• ASCII format change: 5 significant figures are now used for energy of photon group in .prp file.

• Bug fixes:
  • Various issues with tables have been fixed, including unexpected clearing of bad user-entered data when sorting and saving.
  • Attempts to read bad file-types for Atomic Model files no longer lead to a crash.
  • Fixed crash when an invalid file is added to "Set Stark broadening modifiers..."
  • Fixed crash when blank or invalid activation code is entered into Update License box.
  • Selecting File->Close in opacities tab now closes the window.
  • PROPACEOS no longer crashes when running a simulation with QEOS model immediately after running calculations without QEOS.

Version 7.1.2

• Fixed bug introduced in Version 7.1.1: Possible data corruption in the results file (*.prp) when using QEOS option.

Version 7.1.1

• New, more robust activation procedure has been implemented. Activation daemons are no longer required. Affected users will receive new activation codes.

Version 7.1.0

• There is an improved model for computing line strengths and determining if a bound-bound transition needs be included in a calculation. Line strengths are now based on the relative fractions of each atomic species in order to prevent potential problems for mixtures.
• New fitting formula for Stark line widths is used for elements with atomic number from Z = 21 to 32.
• Several improvements have been made to graphics:
  • The quality of text rendered in various plot windows has been improved. This in particular affects Mac and Linux platforms.
  • Legends and colorbars are now resizable.
  • The ability to reset legends and colorbars to their default position is now available in contour plots and line plots. To reset the position, select the Graph | Reset Legend Position menu item of that plot window.
• Exporting images: Images from any of the graphics windows can now be exported with a user-specified number of pixels.
  • Windows affected include:
    • EOS and Opacity Viewer
    • Frequency Dependent Opacity Viewer
  • Options for the exported image size include:
    • Original size
    • Specifying a custom number of pixels for either width or height (the aspect ratio remains fixed)
    • Percentage of original width and height.

  

  Limitations:

  • The aspect ratio is held fixed (same as that shown in the displayed window).
  • Number of pixels: The buffer size, which limits the maximum number of pixels in the exported image, is system-dependent. In test cases on a Windows 7 PC, the largest image produced was ~ 20,000 x 12,000 pixels (which is ~ 10 to 20 times larger than images previously exported).
• Bug fixes:
  • Previously, the species fractions for individual isotopes were used to calculate occupation probabilities. This has been updated so that the fractions for different isotopes of the same atom are summed before being used.

Version 7.0.0

• An option to use parallel processing over frequency points has been added. Parallelization is performed when computing opacities. This option is selected on the Simulations tab of the Preferences dialog. The magnitude of the speedup obtained with parallel processing will vary depending on the nature of the simulation, the operating system being used and the number of processors available. In test calculations, a speed-up of 2.5 was obtained with 4 processors on a desktop PC.

• The interpolation algorithm used for transitioning from the weakly-coupled (isolated atom) regime to the strongly-coupled (QEOS) regime has been updated. The interpolation is performed linearly in log(Γ), where Γ is based on the classic plasma coupling parameter. A floor of 3 eV is used for the temperature in order to prevent unreasonably high Γ values for low temperatures. Parameters are chosen such that at low temperatures the Isolated Atom model is used for densities below ~ 3x10¹⁸ cm^-3, and QEOS is used for densities above ~ 1x10²² cm^-3. The interpolation region shifts to higher density as the temperature increases.
• Default input parameters for the QEOS modeling (solid density and bulk modulus) are now available for all elements with atomic number from 1 to 36.
• An option to use parallel processing over frequency points when computing opacities and emissivities has been added. This option is selected on the Simulations tab of the Preferences dialog. The magnitude of the speedup obtained with parallel processing will vary depending on the nature of the simulation, the operating system being used and the number of processors available.
• When plotting results, new text boxes, legends and colorbars have been implemented along with a new text editing dialog (shown below):

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• A new set of buttons have been added to the tool bar in dialogs displaying graphs to provide a convenient means of changing the axes between linear and log.

Older releases