Numerical simulation of plasma and electromagnetic characteristics for an ion thruster discharge chamber

Abstract

In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric particle-in-cell plus Monte Carlo collision numerical model is developed to simulate the plasma and electromagnetic characteristics inside the discharge chamber of an ion thruster. This model tracks three major particle types: primary electrons, secondary electrons, and xenon ions. The neutral particles are treated as a background gas, and the collision mechanism between electrons and neutral gas is modeled in detail. Besides the external electric field and magnetic field, the time-varying electromagnetic fields caused by the movement of the charged particles are considered. Compared to the electrostatic model, the electromagnetic model can further study the electromagnetic radiation characteristics of the discharge chamber. The numerical results are presented and discussed, including the particle number density distributions, the particle energy distributions, and the time-varying electromagnetic fields. At last, the influence of the electromagnetic effect on ion dynamics is analyzed.