Experimental and numerical characterization of the narrow channel Hall thruster discharge

Abstract

A sub-30 W Hall effect thruster known as the Narrow Channel Hall Thruster (NCHT) was recently developed at the Aerospace Plasma Laboratory, Technion. In this work, the near field plume region of the NCHT is analyzed using emissive and planar Langmuir probes. The NCHT discharge is also analyzed using a particle-in-cell simulation, capable of providing 2D spatial distributions of the plasma parameters inside the channel itself. Both experimental and simulation results confirm that most of the potential drop ∼60% occurs outside the channel. The results also show that ion current loss to the walls and anode is substantial, similar in value of the ion beam current itself.