Measurement of electron density by Stark broadening in an ablative pulsed plasma thruster

Journal Article · Mon Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2983747· OSTI ID:21175579

Feng, Liu; Zongfu, Nie; Xu, Xu; Qianhong, Zhou; Linsen, Li; Rongqing, Liang ^[1]

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1. Plasma Laboratory, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 (China)

Electron density was measured by Stark broadening in an ablative pulsed plasma thruster. The asymmetrical deconvolution is used to obtain Stark broadening. The result shows that the electron density in the discharge channel is 2.534x10{sup 22} m{sup -3} when the discharge energy is 5 J and the measured electron temperature is 18 000 K, and it is in excellent agreement with other experimental and theoretical data. The electron density in the discharge channel increases very minimally with increasing discharge energy.

• OSTI ID: 21175579
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 11; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2983747; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
LINE BROADENING
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
STARK EFFECT
TEMPERATURE RANGE OVER 4000 K
THRUSTERS