# Releases
Release notes for the latest packaged versions of `acherus` are available on [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/acherus/). Other versions are also available on [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/records/18864578) and [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/ismatorresgarcia/acherus/releases).

## Acherus v0.8.1
### 🏷️ Other Features

* 📚 **Documentation and Examples**
  * Updated README and version links.
  * Updated [Read The Docs](https://acherus.readthedocs.io/) with the new `furo` theme layout and reorganized structure.
  * Updated the `docs` folder with detailed installation and user guides (available at [Read The Docs](https://acherus.readthedocs.io/)).
    * Updated air configuration examples (`001_air_IR_ps.toml` and `002_air_IR_fs.toml`) focal length to match the value reported by [Houard *et al.*](https://opg.optica.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-24-7-7437).

### 📝 Full changelog

| **N commits** | 📚 Docs | 🔁 Tests | 🐛 Fixes | 🎨 Style | 🚀 Features | Other |
|---------------|---------|----------|----------|----------|-------------|-------|
| % of Commits  | 100%    | 0%       | 0%       | 0%       | 0%          | 0%    |

Full changelog: https://github.com/ismatorresgarcia/acherus/compare/v0.8.0...v0.8.1

## Acherus v0.8.0

### 🚀 New Features

* 🧩 **Configuration**
  * Replaced the `options` configuration module with a new `config` class that unifies all user-related options. Input options are now provided through a dictionary at the `__main__` entry.
  * Added a new `gpu` boolean variable as an entry in the `config` dictionary, in preparation for future GPU-acceleration.
  * Removed the `method_raman` string variable from the `config` dictionary, since only a single trapezoidal integration method is now used.
  * Added a package-oriented CLI/config flow with TOML loading in `__main__`, optional `--output` override, and standardized output-path handling through configuration and path helpers.


* 🧩 **Plotting**
  * Simplified and renamed some variables and classes for simplicity.
  * `Plot1D` now plots beam radius using a new `compute_radius()` function and beam fluence loaded `fluence_rz` data.
  * `Plot2D` now supports log-scale plotting for radial vs time images using the `contourf` function.
  * `Plot2D` now supports new colormap options via the third party library `cmasher`,
  which provides better color gradients and considers color vision deficiencies.
  * The `monitoring` module now imports input and output data paths from the `paths` submodule in `data`.
  * The `monitoring` and `plotting` modules now have clearer defaults/options, stricter validation, and cleaner plotting controls.

* 🧩 **Mesh**
  * Modified the radial grid index to go from 0 to N (instead of from 0 to N + 1) to matching boundary conditions.

* 🧩 **Solvers**
  * Refactored core propagation internals: unified `FCN` and `SSCN` variants, improved linear-step performance with tridiagonal LAPACK workflows, and added optional radial PML support.
  * Renamed the `base` submodule to `shared` to match the solver structure.
  * Added a new Adams-Bashforth two-step (AB2) integrator for nonlinear terms. All solvers now use AB2 to preserve Crank-Nicolson accuracy; the first propagation step is computed using the Forward Euler method.
  * `shared` module now initializes all arrays to zero to prevent use of uninitialized memory or empty values.
  * Refactored Crank-Nicolson matrix creation into a single `compute_matrices()` routine.
  * `FCN` solver now precomputes and stores the matrices in parallel using `ThreadPoolExecutor()` for faster execution.
  * `FCN` solver now uses `ThreadPoolExecutor()` for parallel computation across frequency slides in `compute_envelope()`.
  * Every single z-independent coefficient which depends on frequency, such as constants optical shock operators, is now precomputed and stored as a 1D array and passed to `compute_nonlinear()` functions for faster computation and reduced floating-point errors.

* 🧩 **Physics**
  * Added a new `keldysh` module replacing previous `ionization` approaches. It computes ionization rates over a desired intensity interval and provides an interpolating object to convert intensity arrays into ionization rates. Supports gaseous and condensed media, including the multiphoton limit and the full generalized Keldysh theory.
  * Added a new `medium` module storing medium properties from `config` and dispersive properties from `sellmeier`.
  * Refactored `laser` and `grid` modules to use input options from the `config` class.
  * Added molecular correction and electron momentum dependence for ionization rates of gases based on [Mishima et al.](https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.033401) in the `keldysh` module.

* 🧩 **Constants**
  * Added a new `constants.py` module to centralize physical and mathematical constants across the package.

* 🧩 **Functions**
  * Removed the `mathematics` folder; replaced with a `functions` folder containing all previous modules.
  * Moved `compute_radius()` to `plotting` module to increase execution speed by avoiding unnecessary computation inside the propagation loop and storage in diagnostics files.
  * Refactored `fourier` imports to use the `gpu` boolean from `computing_backend` option in `config`. CuPy's backend `cufft` is now used only when `gpu=true` and the library is available; otherwise SciPy `fft()` and `ifft()` is used.
  * `compute_raman()` now uses a second-order trapezoidal integration method for the Raman integral. Removed unused SciPy `solve_ivp()` routines.
  * `compute_nonlinear()` now uses z-independent frequency tables for faster broadcasting computations.
  * Optimized `compute_density()` and `compute_nonlinear()` with in-place operations using temporary buffer arrays `_nlin_tmp_t`, `_nlin_tmp_w`, and `dens_tmp_buf` to improve speed.
  * Replaced `RegularGridInterpolator` for intensity/ionization 2D arrays with SciPy's linear `make_interp_spline` interpolation along the time axis only.
  * Replaced `interp1d` in `keldysh` with SciPy's cubic `PchipInterpolator` for monotonic, shape-preserving interpolation.
  * Added `keldysh_rates` and `keldysh_sum` functions for truncated series computation of Keldysh ionization rates.
  * Added `sellmeier` functions providing complete Sellmeier formulas for [air](https://opg.optica.org/josa/abstract.cfm?uri=josa-62-8-958), [water](https://opg.optica.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-17-18-2875), and [silica](https://opg.optica.org/josa/abstract.cfm?uri=josa-55-10-1205).

* 🧩 **Data**
  * `validate_step` in `diagnostics` now saves propagation results in case of failure. `Output_manager` is initialized in `__main__` and accessible from `shared` to save results when density or envelope values overflow.
  * Removed profiling capabilities from `diagnostics`, as they are no longer needed.

### 🏷️ Other Features

* 🔁 **Tests**
  * Added a `tests` folder for development and quality control through GitHub Actions workflows.

* 📚 **Documentation and Examples**
  * Added a `docs` folder for [Read The Docs](https://acherus.readthedocs.io/) powered by Sphinx, hosting the official up-to-date documentation.
  * Acherus is now an official PyPI package. Install it from [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/acherus/).
  * Added an `examples` folder with four configuration examples: `001_air_IR_ps.toml`, `002_air_IR_fs.toml`, `003_water_IR_fs.toml`, and `004_water_UV_fs.toml`.
  * Moved `README.md` to the repository root and updated badges.

* 🐍 **Build and Compatibility**
  * Added repository automation under the `.github` folder for nightly tests, Codecov, and manual badge generation.
  * Added release-notes guidance in `.github/agent/release_notes_agent.md`.
  * Renamed `main` entry as `__main__` to comply with Python CLI standards.
  * Removed `old` directory in favor of Git version control.
  * Updated release-readiness metadata (PyPI URL normalization and README badge/link cleanup, including Codecov, LoC, and LoD).

* 🎨 **Code Style**
  * Improved various helper module descriptions.
  * Configuration options now accept uppercase and lowercase strings.
  * Applied consistency/readability cleanups across touched plotting/function modules.

* 🛡️**Security**
  * Added `SECURITY.md` file to the repository root.

### 🐛 Bug-fixes
  * Fixed `compute_envelope()` in `fcn` module: `mats_right` was incorrectly used in `solve_banded()` instead of `mats_left`.
  * Fixed `fourier` import error when CuPy was unavailable; previously, global backend `cufft` was used alongside SciPy `workers` option.
  * Fixed axis node conversion from float to integer in `init_grid_nodes` within the `plotting` module.
  * Fixed `--radial-limit` parser argument value not being converted to float.
  * Fixed duplicated axis data in `init_sliced_arrays` and `flip_radial_data` when plotting radially symmetric figures.
  * Fixed overflow in `snapshot_z_index`; data type changed from `int16` to `uint16`.
  * Fixed elementwise unit conversion, small-`z` snapshot formatting, flat-ended `rt` log colorbars, and corrected beam-radius extraction.
  * Fixed plotting CLI argument parsing consistency: `--radial-symmetry` True/False boolean conversion, and numeric range parsing/validation.
  * Fixed SSCN propagation duplicate ion-rate handling and boundary alignment issues.

### 📝 Full changelog

| **N commits** | 📚 Docs | 🔁 Tests | 🐛 Fixes | 🎨 Style | 🚀 Features | Other |
|---------------|---------|----------|----------|----------|-------------|-------|
| % of Commits  | 11%     | 4%       | 25%      | 10%      | 44%         | 6%    |

Full changelog: https://github.com/ismatorresgarcia/acherus/compare/v0.7.0...v0.8.0