<s>
SIMION	B-Application
is	O
an	O
ion	O
optics	O
simulation	O
program	O
that	O
calculates	O
electric	O
fields	O
for	O
electrodes	O
of	O
defined	O
voltages	O
and	O
ion	O
trajectories	O
in	O
those	O
fields	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
was	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1970s	O
by	O
Don	O
C	O
.	O
McGilvery	O
at	O
La	O
Trobe	O
University	O
,	O
Melbourne	O
,	O
Australia	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
his	O
Ph.D.	O
research	O
working	O
with	O
James	O
Morrison	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
later	O
adapted	O
for	O
personal	B-Device
computers	I-Device
in	O
1985	O
by	O
David	O
A	O
.	O
Dahl	O
at	O
the	O
Idaho	O
National	O
Engineering	O
and	O
Environmental	O
Laboratory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
Richard	O
Morrison	O
at	O
Monash	O
University	O
,	O
McGilvery	O
developed	O
a	O
Macintosh	O
version	O
of	O
SIMION	B-Application
,	O
known	O
as	O
MacSIMION	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SIMION	B-Application
8.0	O
was	O
initially	O
released	O
in	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
current	O
version	O
is	O
SIMION	B-Application
8.1	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
August	O
2011	O
;	O
minor	O
updates	O
are	O
being	O
released	O
continuously	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SIMION	B-Application
3D	O
is	O
a	O
widely	O
used	O
ion-optics	O
simulation	O
program	O
in	O
many	O
branches	O
of	O
physics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
SIMION	B-Application
,	O
electrostatic	O
fields	O
can	O
be	O
modelled	O
as	O
boundary	O
value	O
problem	O
solutions	O
of	O
an	O
elliptical	O
partial	O
differential	O
equation	O
called	O
the	O
Laplace	O
equation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
specific	O
method	O
used	O
within	O
SIMION	B-Application
to	O
solve	O
this	O
equation	O
is	O
a	O
finite	B-Algorithm
difference	I-Algorithm
method	I-Algorithm
called	O
over-relaxation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
standard	O
fourth-order	O
Runge	B-Algorithm
–	I-Algorithm
Kutta	I-Algorithm
method	I-Algorithm
is	O
used	O
for	O
numerical	O
integration	O
of	O
the	O
ion	O
trajectory	O
in	O
three	O
dimensions	O
.	O
</s>
