High-Density Helicon Plasma Sources: Basics and Application to Electrodeless Electric Propulsion

Shinohara, Shunjiro; Tanikawa, Takao; Hada, Tohru; Funaki, Ikkoh; Nishida, Hiroyuki; Matsuoka, Takeshi; Otsuka, Fumiko; Shamrai, K. P.; Rudenko, Timofei S.; Nakamura, Takahiro; Mishio, Akira; Ishii, Hiroki; Teshigahara, Naoto; Fujitsuka, Hiroaki; Waseda, Shimpei

doi:10.13182/fst13-a16896

Cited by 25 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…From these results, we considered that the m = 0 coil acceleration was dominant near the central region of the plasma (around r = 0), and the Ponderomotive force was also important in the outer edge region of the plasma. [17][18][19] …”

Section: = 0 Coil Acceleration Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

Kuwahara

Shinohara

Ishii

et al. 2016

AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have been studying long-lifetime helicon plasma thrusters as the Helicon Electrodeless Advanced Thruster (HEAT) project. Two important elements of the proposed helicon plasma thruster are a generation of a dense source plasma using a helicon wave, and an acceleration of the plasma by the Lorentz force using the product of the induced azimuthal current and static radial magnetic field. Here, in order to eliminate damage of electrodes, both generation and acceleration schemes are operated in non-contact condition between the plasma and electrodes. Acceleration schemes use two type of coils: rotating magnetic field coils and azimuthal mode number m = 0 ones. These studies have been carried out on the Large Mirror Device (LMD), which has two types the magnetic field source, permanent magnets and electromagnets, and the Small Helicon Device (SHD), which has small diameter discharge tubes. In this paper, current performances of acceleration schemes are reported.

show abstract

Section: = 0 Coil Acceleration Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

Kuwahara

Shinohara

Ishii

et al. 2016

AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One of the most challenging problems in the theory of helicon plasma sources is a supposed existence of the plasma density limit [1][2][3][4][5]. For the helicon plasma sources, it is conventional to consider the density of the order of 10 12 cm −3 as very high, but preproduction of plasma for fusion devices needs the density of the order of 10 14 cm −3 , at least.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the density limit in the helicon plasma sources

Kotelnikov

2014

Physics of Plasmas

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Existence of the density limit in the helicon plasma sources is critically revisited. The lowand high-frequency regimes of a helicon plasma source operation are distinguished. In the lowfrequency regime with ω < √ ωciωce the density limit is deduced from the Golant-Stix criterion of the accessibility of the lower hybrid resonance. In the high-frequency case, ω > √ ωciωce, an appropriate limit is given by the Shamrai-Taranov criterion. Both these criteria are closely related to the phenomenon of the coalescence of the helicon wave with the Trivelpiece-Gould mode. We argue that theoretical density limits are not achieved in existing devices but might be met in the future with the increase of applied rf power.

show abstract

“…(1). Although in the present case the ART method is not accurate in the outer region, the peak shift of n e in the 2D profile is evident.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 48%

“…Hence there has been an increasing interest in electrodeless electric propulsion. Our project of Helicon Electrodeless Advanced Thruster (HEAT) [1] has been developing electrodeless propulsion systems. One of our proposed systems employs a helicon discharge [2] to produce a dense plasma, accelerated by a rotating magnetic field [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Measurements of High-Density Helicon Plasma by Using a High-Speed Camera and Monochromators

Waseda

Fujitsuka

Shinohara

et al. 2014

Plasma and Fusion Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Electric propulsion is an established high-efficiency method in deep space explorers. However, most of the applied methods feature electrodes in direct contact with the plasma, thus its lifetime is limited by the electrodes' erosion. We developed electrodeless electric propulsion systems in order to overcome this problem, and performed optical measurements to estimate the high-density helicon plasma performance of the systems. The electron and neutral particle density profiles were measured by a high-speed camera, and the velocity of the singly-charged Ar ions was determined by a high-resolution monochromator. Additionally, a preliminary experiment of a spectroscopic method using an intensity ratio based on a collisional radiative model with a CCD monochromator was performed. The plasma parameters were in good agreement with the results obtained by an electrostatic probe, and the non-invasive optical measurements presented here can constitute an effective tool for evaluating an electric propulsion system.

show abstract

High-Density Helicon Plasma Sources: Basics and Application to Electrodeless Electric Propulsion

Cited by 25 publications

References 12 publications

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

High-Density Helicon Plasma Thrusters Using Electrodeless Acceleration Schemes

On the density limit in the helicon plasma sources

Optical Measurements of High-Density Helicon Plasma by Using a High-Speed Camera and Monochromators

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About