Ion-energy plume diagnostics on the BHT-600 hall thruster cluster

The use of electrostatic analyzers to measure ion energy-to-charge distributions and angular trajectories of plasma exhaust particles for Hall thruster plume diagnostics, is discussed. Electrostatic analyzer consists of a sphere and a concentric shell with an aperture at the apex of the outer shell. Topaz has been designed for high energy measurement, is a far-field plume-diagnostics instrument. Topaz was placed 1 m downstream of a cluster of four 600-W BHT-600 hall thrusters to characterize the plume of a cluster of Hall thrusters. The BHT-600 cluster was acquired for basic research on Hall thruster cluster characterization, cluster facility effects, and plume diagnostics. A K&M Electronics model 7550 m channel electron multiplier (CEM) is employed to detect ions after they have passed through TOPAZ. It is found that the beam ions along with the centerline of each thruster have energies closest to the discharge voltage.

Duke Scholars

Author Alec Gallimore Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materia ...