Time-synchronized continuous wave laser-induced fluorescence axial velocity measurements in a diverging cusped field thruster

Abstract

Measurements are presented of time-synchronized axial ion velocities at three positions in the discharge channel and plume of a diverging cusped field thruster operating on xenon. Xenon axial ion velocities for the thruster are derived from laser-induced fluorescence measurements of the 5d[4]7/2–6p[3]5/2 xenon ion excited state transition centred at λ = 834.72 nm. The thruster is operated in a high-current mode, where the anode discharge current is shown to oscillate quasi-periodically. A sample-hold scheme is implemented to correlate ion velocities to phases along the current cycle. These time-synchronized measurements show that median axial ion velocities decrease as discharge current increases, and that the widths of ion velocity distributions increase with increases in discharge current for positions at the exit plane and outside the thruster channel.