Background pressure effects on ion dynamics in a low-power magnetic nozzle thruster

Wachs, Benjamin; Jorns, Benjamin

doi:10.1088/1361-6595/ab74b6

Cited by 31 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This phenomenon is more acute inside a vacuum facility due to the additional effect of the background pressure. Other experiments have shown a significant decrease of ion energy (and thus thrust) as the background pressure is increased due to both new born ions and resistive deceleration [410]. The assessment of the effect of ion-neutral collisions in the beam expansion and the thrust would require a dedicated research, since other configurations have shown that for specified potential drop, ion-neutral collisions during the ion acceleration can increase the thrust [411], [412].…”

Section: Current and Future Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physics of E × B discharges relevant to plasma propulsion and similar technologies

et al. 2020

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This paper provides perspectives on recent progress in the understanding of the physics of devices where the external magnetic field is applied perpendicularly to the discharge current. This configuration generates a strong electric field, which acts to accelerates ions. The many applications of this set up include generation of thrust for spacecraft propulsion and the separation of species in plasma mass separation devices. These "E×B" plasmas are subject to plasma-wall interaction effects as well as various micro and macro instabilities, and in many devices, we observe the emergence of anomalous transport. This perspective presents the current understanding of the physics of these phenomena, state-of-the-art computational results, identifies critical questions, and suggests directions for future research.

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Section: Current and Future Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physics of E × B discharges relevant to plasma propulsion and similar technologies

et al. 2020

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“…The thruster efficiencies for the three solenoid currents are calculated from the energy losses in the magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster using Equation (7). The thruster efficiencies are 2.1%, 27.4%, and 45.0% for the solenoid currents of 0.1, 0.4, and 2.0 kA, respectively.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Magnetic nozzle radiofrequency (rf) plasma thrusters have been developed worldwide for future high-power electric propulsion systems [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The main components of the magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster are an rf antenna, a dielectric tube, and the solenoid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vector resolved energy fluxes and collisional energy losses in magnetic nozzle radiofrequency plasma thrusters

Emoto,

Takahashi,

Takao

2021

Preprint

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Energy losses in a magnetic nozzle radiofrequency plasma thruster are investigated to improve the thruster efficiency, which are calculated from particle energy losses in fully kinetic simulations. The simulations calculate particle energy fluxes with a vector resolution including the plasma energy lost to the dielectric wall, the plasma beam energy, and the divergent plasma energy in addition to collisional energy losses. As a result, distributions of energy losses in the thruster and the ratios of the energy losses to the input power are obtained. The simulation results show that the plasma energy lost to the dielectric is dramatically suppressed by increasing the magnetic field strength and the ion beam energy increases instead. In addition, the divergent ion energy and collisional energy losses account for approximately 4-12% and 30-40%, respectively, regardless of the magnetic field strength.

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“…The coupling of plasma flow with neutrals is important in many fusion 3 and plasma thruster applications [31][32][33] . Model equations were used to point out characteristic effects due to ionization and charge-exchange processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion Temperature Effects on Plasma Flow in the Magnetic Mirror Configuration

Sabo,

Smolyakov,

Yushmanov

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Effects of finite ion temperature on plasma flow in the converging-diverging magnetic field, the magnetic mirror, or equivalently, magnetic nozzle configuration, are studied using a quasineutral paraxial two-fluid MHD model with isothermal electrons and magnetized ions. The magnetized ions are considered in the two-pressure approximation with Chow-Golberger-Law model and its generalization. The solutions of stationary MHD equations were studied with an emphasis on the role of the singularity at the sonic point transition. It is shown that the regularity of the sonic point defines a global solution describing plasma acceleration from subsonic to supersonic velocity. Such stationary solutions were compared with the time dependent dynamics confirming that the solutions of the time-dependent equations converge to the stationary solutions. It is shown that the perpendicular ion pressure enhances plasma acceleration due to the mirror force. The role of ion dissipative effects such as ionization and charge exchange on plasma flow acceleration have been investigated.

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Background pressure effects on ion dynamics in a low-power magnetic nozzle thruster

Cited by 31 publications

References 27 publications

Physics of E × B discharges relevant to plasma propulsion and similar technologies

Physics of E × B discharges relevant to plasma propulsion and similar technologies

Vector resolved energy fluxes and collisional energy losses in magnetic nozzle radiofrequency plasma thrusters

Ion Temperature Effects on Plasma Flow in the Magnetic Mirror Configuration

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