Modeling of a Magnetized Plasma: The Stationary Plasma Thruster

TL;DRAbstract

The mechanisms of electron transport in a Stationary Plasma Thruster are still not clearly understood and numerical or theoretical models cannot at this moment state whether the measured conductivity in this device is due to electron-wall collisions or to field fluctuations. Simple quasineutral hybrid models of the SPT where the electrons are described as a collisional fluid and ions are assumed to be collisionless have been developed. These models can predict reasonably well the discharge properties when some parameters (electron mobility, electron energy loss coefficient) are adequately adjusted. A transient version of these quasineutral models can reproduce well the low frequency, large amplitude oscillations observed in the SPT. The current oscillations are associated with a small oscillation of the location of the neutral density gradient and ionization source region. More work is however needed to confirm that the model provides the good physical interpretation of the oscillation

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