Simulation study of the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that leak electrons in cusped field thrusters can move along the channel axis to the anode after crossing the magnetic cusp on the exit. In this paper, a onedimensional fluid model is built along two typical electron paths to study the influence of leak electrons on the discharge characteristics of a cusped field thruster, considering the electron temperature equation. It is found that the frequencies of low-frequency oscillations increase with a decrease in the proportion of leak electrons, which is related to an increase in the ion speed in the channel. Simulation results show that the position of the peak electron temperature is near the magnetic cusp on the exit and the position of the peak electron density is located downstream from the middle magnetic tip. With a decrease in the proportion of the leak electrons, the peak electron temperature and peak electron density decrease and the position of the peak electron density moves away from the exit, which is related to a decrease in the potential fall on the exit and an increase in confinement of electrons to the middle magnetic cusp.

A minimized electron cyclotron resonance ion thruster for China’s space-borne gravitational wave detection missions

“…In this work, a new structure is proposed to change the design of ECRIT from radial to axial by considering the axial structure of the ring-cusp magnetic field. This field is distinguished by the characteristics of strong confinement to reduce the loss of plasma into the wall as well [37,38]. It was excellent in the traveling wave tubes and miniaturized HEMP devices [39,40].…”