Anomalous conductivity in Hall thrusters: Effects of the non-linear coupling of the electron-cyclotron drift instability with secondary electron emission of the walls

Journal Article · Thu Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4818796· OSTI ID:22227900

Héron, A.; Adam, J. C. ^[1]

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1. Centre de physique théorique, CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)

With the help of an implicit particle-in-cell code, we have shown in a previous paper that the electron-cyclotron drift instability was able to induce anomalous conductivity as well as anomalous heating. As such it can be a major actor among the mechanisms involved in the operation of Hall thrusters. However, experimental results show that the nature of wall material has a significant effect on the behavior of the thruster. The purpose of this paper is to study the plasma-wall interaction in the case where the plasma is heated self-consistently by electrostatic fluctuations induced by the electron-cyclotron drift instability.

• OSTI ID: 22227900
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DRIFT INSTABILITY
ELECTRON EMISSION
ELECTRONS
FLUCTUATIONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA HEATING
PLASMA SIMULATION
THRUSTERS
WALL EFFECTS