Ion species fractions in the far-field plume of a high-specific impulse Hall thruster
An ExB probe was used to measure the ion species fractions of Xe+, Xe2+, and Xe3+ in the farfield plume of the NASA-173Mv2 laboratory-model Hall thruster. The thruster was operated at a constant xenon flow rate of 10 mg/s and discharge voltages of 300-900 V. The ExB probe was placed two meters downstream of the thruster exit plane on the thruster centerline. At a discharge voltage of 300 V, the species fractions of Xe2+ and Xe3+ were lower, but still consistent with, previous Hall thruster studies using other mass analyzers. Over discharge voltages of 300-900 V, the Xe2+ species fractions increased from 0.04 to 0.12 and the Xe3+ species fraction increased from 0.01 to 0.02. © 2003 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.
