Azimuthal ion drift of a gridded ion thruster

Abstract

We report the experimental and simulated azimuthal ion velocities of a gridded ion thruster, which generates a roll torque around the thrust axis. Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy was applied to two microwave ion thrusters with opposite magnetic polarities. A comparison of the measured results revealed a net misalignment of the grid optics and showed that the ions are continuously accelerated from inside the discharge chamber towards a direction downstream of the grid optics. To investigate the effect of the electromagnetic field, the authors conducted a two-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision (2D-PIC-MCC) numerical simulation. The numerical simulation agrees with the measurements and reveals that the ions are azimuthally accelerated by a gradient B drift, curvature drift, E × B drift and the Lorentz force. The reproduced roll torque is 3.1 ± 2.3 μNm and arises due to the mechanical tolerance of the grid optics. The roll torque shows good agreement with the result observed in the space operation. Therefore, the roll torque can be predicted by using our experiment and simulation.