Measurements of Plasma Potential Distribution in Segmented Electrode Hall Thruster

Conference · Tue Oct 16 00:00:00 UTC 2001

OSTI ID:788454

Raitses, Y ^[1]; Staack, D; Fisch, N J

---

1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Use of a segmented electrode placed at the Hall thruster exit can substantially reduce the voltage potential drop in the fringing magnetic field outside the thruster channel. In this paper, we investigate the dependence of this effect on thruster operating conditions and segmented electrode configuration. A fast movable emissive probe is used to measure plasma potential in a 1 kW laboratory Hall thruster with semented electrodes made of a graphite material. Relatively small probe-induced perturbations of the thruster discharge in the vicinity of the thruster exit allow a reasonable comparison of the measured results for different thruster configurations. It is shown that the plasma potential distribution is almost not sensitive to changes of the electrode potential, but depends on the magnetic field distribution and the electrode placement.

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Lab., NJ (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 788454
• Report Number(s): Cfpaper-4359
• Resource Type: Conference paper/presentation
• Conference Information: 27th International Electric Propulsion Conference, Pasadena, CA (US), 10/14/2001--10/19/2001
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
ELECTRODES
GRAPHITE
HALL EFFECT
PLASMA POTENTIAL
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
THRUSTERS
VOLTAGE DROP