Plasma properties downstream of a low-power Hall thruster
- Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)
Triple Langmuir probes and emissive probes were used to measure the electron number density, electron temperature, and plasma potential downstream of a low-power Hall thruster. The results show a polytropic relation between electron temperature and electron number density throughout the sampled region. Over a large fraction of the plume, the plasma potential obeys the predictions of ambipolar expansion. Near the thruster centerline, however, observations show larger gradients of plasma potential than can be accounted for by this means. Radial profiles of plasma potential in the very-near-field plume are shown to contain large gradients that correspond in location to the boundaries of a visually intense plasma region.
- OSTI ID:
- 20782411
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 12, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2145097; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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