Pulsed Plasma Thruster Plume Investigation Using a Current-Mode Quadruple Probe Method

Dynamics of the expansion discharge originated by a dense plasma focus

“…The triple probe, referred operated in current mode, is suitable for flowing, steady, and unsteady plasmas in the collisionless regime. The implementation of current mode originates from the fact that the voltage needed in the voltage mode operation (voltage that comes from the probe which is floating) is a high impedance measurement that can be susceptible to electromagnetic noise in pulsed plasmas [1][2][3][4][5][6]. …”

“…Triple probes offer an advantage over single and double Langmuir probes, allowing simultaneous measurement of plasma parameters without the need for voltage sweeps that can be limiting in pulsed plasma environments, specially if the discharges are not reproducible from shot to shot [1,2,4,6]. Triple probes can be operated in either voltage or current modes.…”

Overview of NASA's Pulsed Plasma Thruster Development Program

“…A current-mode quadruple and triple langmuir probe methods were developed and used to measure electron temperature, electron density, and the ratio of ion speed to most probable thermal speed in a PPT plume 10 . The novel approach of measuring the currents in the biased probe leads increased signal to noise significantly during the first few microseconds of the PPT discharge.…”

Three-dimensional particle simulation of the plume of a pulsed plasma thruster

“…The plume characteristics have been studied by many researchers [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] because it is of interest in the contamination assessment of electric thrusters and important for the investigation of plume-spacecraft interactions. The plasma plume of a rectangular geometry ablative PPT using solid Teflon for propellant is investigated.…”