カスプ磁場を用いたイオンスラスターの放電プラズマ

Abstract

Discharge plasmas in magnetic cusp ion thrusters were studied. To evaluate ion loss rates to the chamber wall, ion density distributions were measured by a Langmuir probe scanned along the wall surface. Comparisons of discharge perfomances were made for various electrode geometries, anode configurations and two different magnetic field strengths. A simple discharge plasma model based on the assumption of ionization by primary electrons was applied to investigate the cusp confinement for the wall and ring anode configurations.