Scaling laws of lissajous acceleration for electrodeless helicon plasma thruster

Abstract

Analytical thrust model for the Lissajous Helicon Plasma Accelerator (LHPA) is developed by extending previous works [1,2] in order to guide experiments for achieving feasible value of the thrust. In the LHPA, a rotating transverse electric field in an external divergent magnetic field drives azimuthal currents via electron E × B drift then the thrust is produced due to the Lorentz force. One dimensional (1D) analytical model is developed which includes the electric field penetration into the plasma and the E × B current estimation based on a trajectory analysis. Thrust as a function of parameters of the plasma density and the magnetic field is studied. The penetration of the electrical field into plasmas is examined by 1D particle in cell (PIC) simulations whose results are consistent with those of the 1D analytical model. © 2011 The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research.