Re NLThermalSaturation.ipynb: Compare results produced by the linear and nonlinear heat equations.

[dtabell]

In particular:

• [x] How do they compare near room temperature?
• [x] At what power level does one see significant differences?
• [ ] How do they compare at cryogenic temperatures?
• [ ] At what power level does one see significant differences at those lower temperatures?

[bruhwiler]

@dtabell said this could be done by Wednesday, October 5

[dtabell]

At room temperture, @nickgoldring and I see only very small differences. We see those differences only by looking at specific numerical values. Graphs of the data appear indistinguishable to the eye.

[dtabell]

We increase the power level by a factor of five—from 20 W to 100 W—and the temperature rise at the entrance face differs by slightly more than 1°C.

[bruhwiler]

This is good news. Does this mean that the factor of 3 confusion with the previous linear simulations has been resolved?

[dtabell]

I think yes. But not committing myself just yet. Here we simply modified the thermal diffusivity function to return a constant.

[bruhwiler]

@dtabell -- please recreate this issue in rslaser-examples/ and designate priority 2 After doing so, please close this issue.