Experimental Investigation of the Early Phase of Dielectric Surface Flashover in a Simulated Low Ear

Hegeler, F.; Masten, G.; Leiker, G.; Krompholz, H.; Kristiansen, M.

doi:10.1109/ppc.1993.513321

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Generally, the corresponding background vacuum pressure is between 10 -1 and 10 -3 Pa, when the low-earth orbit is 100-200 km. For the satellites orbiting in medium and high orbits, the vacuum backpressure is less than 10 -3 Pa [18][19][20]. In an ion thruster, the discharge cathode operates in a coupled plasma region with a high backpressure, while the neutralizer cathode operates in a hard vacuum region with a relatively low backpressure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of vacuum backpressure on discharge characteristics of hollow cathode

Ning¹,

Chu²,

Liu³

et al. 2019

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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A hollow cathode is the electronic source and neutralizer of the Hall thruster and an ion thruster. When the orbit of an all-electric propulsion satellite changes from 100 km to 36 000 km, the backpressure changes by two to three orders of magnitude. In this paper, the influence of the backpressure on the discharge characteristics of the hollow cathode has been studied experimentally in the so-called diode configuration. With the increase in the backpressure, the anode voltage decreases gradually, and the amplitude of the current oscillation decreases significantly. Additionally, the plasma is relatively stable, the most probable ion energy and the width of the ion energy distribution reduces, and the electron distribution function inclines toward the Maxwell distribution under high backpressure. The analysis results show that the backpressure affects the gas ionization and the ionic acoustic turbulence, which also affects the discharge characteristics of the hollow cathode.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%