Influence of Electron Sources on the Near-field Plume in a Multistage Plasma Thruster

Duras, Julia; Schneider, R.; Kalentev, Oleksandr; Kemnitz, Stefan; Matyash, K.; Koch, Norbert; Lüskow, Karl Felix; Kahnfeld, Daniel; Bandelow, G.

doi:10.14311/ppt.2016.3.126

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…As shown in previous studies (Duras et al. 2016), only near-axis electron sources are able to change the plume potential. In addition the magnetic field of the thruster guides most of the emitted secondary electrons towards the channel axis.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Corresponding ion and electrons distributions can be found in Duras et al. (2016). For the boundary condition at the right-hand side of the domain is chosen.…”

Section: Ion Angular Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…A study of different external electron sources and their positions showed strong influence of the magnetic field on the near-field plume (Duras et al. 2016). To represent the possible contributions of secondary electrons created by ions at the vessel walls, an electron source is placed close to the symmetry axis.…”

Section: Ion Angular Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In experiments, the HEMP-T can operate even without the neutraliser because even a very small amount of free electrons are sufficient for successful start up. Corresponding ion and electrons distributions can be found in Duras et al (2016). For the boundary condition at the right-hand side of the domain E z = 0 is chosen.…”

Section: Angular Ion Current Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These low energetic electrons are attracted by the anode potential and become magnetised by the magnetic field of the thruster acting as additional primary source of electrons. A study of different external electron sources and their positions showed strong influence of the magnetic field on the near-field plume (Duras et al 2016). To represent the possible contributions of secondary electrons created by ions at the vessel walls, an electron source is placed close to the symmetry axis.…”

Section: Angular Ion Current Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Ion angular distribution simulation of the Highly Efficient Multistage Plasma Thruster

et al. 2017

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Ion angular current and energy distributions are important parameters for ion thrusters, which are typically measured at a few tens of centimetres to a few metres distance from the thruster exit. However, fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are not able to simulate such domain sizes due to high computational costs. Therefore, a parallelisation strategy of the code is presented to reduce computational time. The calculated ion beam angular distributions in the plume region are quite sensitive to boundary conditions of the potential, possible additional source contributions (e.g. from secondary electron emission at vessel walls) and charge exchange collisions. Within this work a model for secondary electrons emitted from the vessel wall is included. In order to account for limits of the model due to its limited domain size, a correction of the simulated angular ion energy distribution by the potential boundary is presented to represent the conditions at the location of the experimental measurement in $1~\text{m}$ distance. In addition, a post-processing procedure is suggested to include charge exchange collisions in the plume region not covered by the original PIC simulation domain for the simulation of ion angular distributions measured at $1~\text{m}$ distance.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Corresponding ion and electrons distributions can be found in Duras et al. (2016). For the boundary condition at the right-hand side of the domain is chosen.…”

Section: Ion Angular Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Ion Angular Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Angular Ion Current Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Angular Ion Current Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ion angular distribution simulation of the Highly Efficient Multistage Plasma Thruster

et al. 2017

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Cathode position effects on microwave discharge cusped field thruster

Zeng¹,

Liu²,

Chen³

et al. 2023

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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The microwave discharge cusped field thruster is a novel concept of electric micro propulsion device, which operates μN level thrust in low mass flow rate conditions, making use of a coaxial transmission line resonator (CTLR). With the advantages of low thrust noise and high thrust resolution over a wide range of thrust, the thruster becomes a candidate thruster for the Gravitational Wave detection mission. The cathode effects commonly exist in many kinds of electric propulsions, and they are typically significant in micro propulsions. In order to find out the cathode position effects on microwave discharge cusped field thruster, a thermionic cathode is mounted on a cross-slider for the coupling. With cathode position varies, the plume is analyzed by a Faraday probe and an RPA to analyze the performance and discharge characteristics. The results show that the magnetic mirror effect leads to significant degradation of anode current and an increase in low-energy ion ratio as the cathode moves away from the thruster exit. The electron conduction route also significantly impacts anode current efficiency, related to the cathode-exit distance and the thruster magnetic topology.

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Simplified Optimization of the Magnetic Configuration of HEMP-Thrusters

Lewerentz

Schneider

2023

Applied Sciences

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One type of ion thruster that has gained attention in recent years is the High Efficiency Multistage Plasma (HEMP) thruster. Optimizing the performance of these thrusters can be challenging due to the complexity of the underlying physics. Since the construction of new designs is expensive, cheaper methods for optimization, e.g., numerical optimization, are being sought. This paper presents a fast, analytical approach to finding realistic starting points for the magnetic geometry design of HEMP thrusters. First, a ratio of length to radius is presented, where the magnetic field is especially parallel at the center of the magnetic ring. This result is confirmed with the open-source library magpylib. Its speed and accuracy qualify this tool for further optimization processes. Here, we present some simple performance indicators, which may be beneficial to characterize the magnetic field structure for further optimization.

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Influence of Electron Sources on the Near-field Plume in a Multistage Plasma Thruster

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Ion angular distribution simulation of the Highly Efficient Multistage Plasma Thruster

Ion angular distribution simulation of the Highly Efficient Multistage Plasma Thruster

Cathode position effects on microwave discharge cusped field thruster

Simplified Optimization of the Magnetic Configuration of HEMP-Thrusters

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