Numerical simulation of the Helicon Double Layer Thruster Concept

Abstract

During last years some laboratories obtained current free helicon double layers in experiments with both electropositive and electronegative gases. The current free double layer has potential application as a plasma thruster. Although considerable progress has been made, at the present time a number of aspects related to this phenomenon are still only partially understood. This paper presents results obtained by numerical simulation of double layer formation, stability and characteristics and explores the applicability of this concept to a space mission. The analysis has been conducted using a combination of 1-D and 2-D numerical codes. After the modelization of helicon source, the code is applied to simulate a simple plasma thruster.