Kinetic simulations of a plasma thruster

Abstract

The modelling of the Hall thruster SPT-100 is a very important issue in view of the increasing importance of such propulsion devices in space applications. Only kinetic models can investigate the rich variety of physical mechanisms involved in the Hall discharge and in the plume emitted from the thruster. This paper collects a number of different particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision models which have been able to reveal different phenomena related to the peculiar physics of Hall thruster, such as sheath instability, azimuthal fluctuations and plume backflow.