Particle-in-Cell simulation of an Ion Gun

Abstract

In this paper, we intend to study the plasma profiles at the exit of an ion gun. Ion guns are close to the electrostatic ion thrusters. The ions are allowed to escape through an electrostatic potential difference of 100 V. The plasma density is considered to be a variable. A code is employed, based on Particle-in-cell method to study the plasma behavior at the exit of the ion gun. The code is written in 2D (r, z) coordinates. Initially, the ion velocities are sampled out of a Maxwellian distribution. However, the velocity evolves under the electrostatic potential difference with time. Computationally a sparse gridding is assumed. Various plasma profiles such as the density of ions and maximum z-directional velocity are calculated. The maximum z-velocity has been found to be on the order of 20 km/sec.