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Modelling a thrust imparted by a highly ionized magnetic nozzle rf plasma thruster

Part of: Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

Kazunori Takahashi Open the ORCID record for Kazunori Takahashi [Opens in a new window]
Kazunori Takahashi*
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan National Institute for Fusion Science, Toki 509-5292, Japan
*
†Email address for correspondence: kazunori.takahashi.e8@tohoku.ac.jp
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Abstract

Influence of the local-ionization-induced neutral depletion on the thrust imparted by the magnetic nozzle plasma thruster is discussed by simply considering reduction of the neutral density due to the ionization in the thruster model combining the global source model and the one-dimensional magnetic nozzle model. When increasing the rf power, it is shown that the increase rate of the plasma density is reduced, while the electron temperature continues to increase due to a decrease in the neutral density. Since the major components of the thrust are originated from the electron pressures in the source and in the magnetic nozzle, the increase in the electron temperature contributes to the increase in the thrust in addition to the gradual density increase by the rf power. The model qualitatively predicts the reduction of the thruster efficiency by the neutral depletion for the high-power condition, compared with the constant neutral density model.

Keywords

plasma devices
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , April 2024 , 975900201
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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