Calibrating ion density profile measurements in ion thruster beam plasma

Theion thrusterbeamplasma is characterized by high directed ionvelocity (104 m/s) and lowplasma density (1015 m−3). Interpretation ofmeasurements of such aplasma based on classicalLangmuir probe theory can yield a large experimental error. This paper presents an indirect method to calibrate ion density determination in anion thrusterbeamplasma using a Faraday probe, a retarding potential analyzer, and aLangmuir probe. This new method is applied to determine theplasma emitted from a 20-cm-diameter Kaufmanion thruster. The results show that the ion density calibrated by the new method can be as much as 40% less than that without any ioncurrent density and ionvelocitycalibration.

Source: Review of Scientific Instruments - November 8, 2016 Category: Physics Authors: Zun Zhang, Haibin Tang, Junxue Ren, Zhe Zhang and Joseph Wang Source Type: research