Simulation and laboratory validation of magnetic nozzle effects for the high power helicon thruster

Abstract

The efficiency of a plasma thruster can be improved if the plasma stream can be highly focused, so that there is maximum conversion of thermal energy to the directed energy. Such focusing can be potentially achieved through the use of magnetic nozzles, but this introduces the potential problem of detachment of plasma from the magnetic field lines tied to the nozzles. Simulations and laboratory testing are used to investigate these processes for the high power helicon (HPH) thruster, which has the capacity of producing a dense (1018−1020m−3) energetic (tens of eV) plasma stream which can be both supersonic and super-Alfvénic within a few antenna wavelengths. In its standard configuration, the plasma plume generated by this device has a large opening angle, due to relatively high thermal velocity and rapid divergence of the magnetic field. With the addition of a magnetic nozzle system, the plasma can be directed/collimated close to the pole of the nozzle system causing an increase in the axial velocity of the plasma, as well as an increase in the Alfvén Mach number. As such the magnetic field of the nozzle is insufficient to pull the plasma back to the spacecraft, i.e., plasma attachment is not a problem for the system. Laboratory results show that the specific impulse (Isp) of the system can be increased by ∼30% by the addition of the nozzle due to the conversion of thermal energy into directed energy in association with a highly collimated profile. An interesting feature of the system is that self-collimation of the beam is expected to occur during continuous operation through plasma currents induced downstream from the magnetic nozzle. These currents lead to magnetic fields that have a smaller divergence than the original vacuum magnetic field so that the following plasma will be more collimated than the proceeding plasma. This self-focusing can lead to beam propagation over extended distances.