TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental studies of anode sheath phenomena in a Hall thruster discharge
AU - Dorf, L.
AU - Raitses, Y.
AU - Fisch, N. J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are very grateful to Artem Smirnov for his help with analyzing the possible mechanisms of anode fall formation. They would also like to thank Dr. Vladimir Semenov and David Staack for fruitful discussions. The EDS analysis of the anode dielectric coating was performed by Stork MMA Testing Laboratories (Newtown, PA). This work was supported by US DOE Contract No. AC02-76CH0-3073 and NJ Commission for Science and Technology.
PY - 2005/5/15
Y1 - 2005/5/15
N2 - Both electron-repelling and electron-attracting anode sheaths in a Hall thruster were characterized by measuring the plasma potential with biased and emissive probes [L. Dorf, Y. Raitses, V. Semenov, and N. J. Fisch, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 1070 (2004)]. In the present work, two-dimensional structures of the plasma potential, electron temperature, and plasma density in the near-anode region of a Hall thruster with clean and dielectrically coated anodes are identified. Possible mechanisms of anode sheath formation in a Hall thruster are analyzed. The path for current closure to the anode appears to be the determining factor in the anode sheath formation process. The main conclusion of this work is that the anode sheath formation in Hall thrusters differs essentially from that in the other gas discharge devices, such as a glow discharge or a hollow anode, because the Hall thruster utilizes long electron residence times to ionize rather than high neutral pressures.
AB - Both electron-repelling and electron-attracting anode sheaths in a Hall thruster were characterized by measuring the plasma potential with biased and emissive probes [L. Dorf, Y. Raitses, V. Semenov, and N. J. Fisch, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 1070 (2004)]. In the present work, two-dimensional structures of the plasma potential, electron temperature, and plasma density in the near-anode region of a Hall thruster with clean and dielectrically coated anodes are identified. Possible mechanisms of anode sheath formation in a Hall thruster are analyzed. The path for current closure to the anode appears to be the determining factor in the anode sheath formation process. The main conclusion of this work is that the anode sheath formation in Hall thrusters differs essentially from that in the other gas discharge devices, such as a glow discharge or a hollow anode, because the Hall thruster utilizes long electron residence times to ionize rather than high neutral pressures.
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U2 - 10.1063/1.1915516
DO - 10.1063/1.1915516
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:20944441730
SN - 0021-8979
VL - 97
JO - Journal of Applied Physics
JF - Journal of Applied Physics
IS - 10
M1 - 103309
ER -