Measurements of Secondary Electron Emission Effects in the Hall Thruster Discharge

Technical Report · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/934610· OSTI ID:934610

Raitses, Y; Smirnov, A; Staack, D; Fisch, N J

The dependence of the maximum electron temperature on the discharge voltage is studied for two Hall thruster configurations, in which a collisionless plasma is bounded by channel walls made of materials with different secondary electron emission (SEE) properties. The linear growth of the temperature with the discharge voltage, observed in the channel with a low SEE yield, suggests that SEE is responsible for the electron temperature saturation in the thruster configuration with the channel walls having a higher SEE yield. The fact that the values of the electron temperature at saturation are rather high may indirectly support the recently predicted kinetic regime of the space charge saturation of the near-wall sheath in the thruster discharge. A correlation between the effects of the channel wall material on the electron temperature and the electron cross-field current was also observed.

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 934610
• Report Number(s): PPPL-4137
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
CONFIGURATION
ELECTRON EMISSION
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELECTRONS
KINETICS
SATURATION
SPACE CHARGE
THRUSTERS
plasma magnetohydrodynamics
discharges (electric)
plasma temperature
plasma boundary layers
plasma-wall interactions
space charge
plasma sheaths
plasma transport processes