On the heating mechanism of electron cyclotron resonance thruster immerged in a non-uniform magnetic field

Xiaogang YUAN (袁小刚); Lei CHANG (苌磊); Xin YANG (杨鑫); Haishan ZHOU (周海山); Guangnan LUO (罗广南)

doi:10.1088/2058-6272/ab80d3

Plasma Science and Technology > 2020 > 22(9): 94003-094003. > DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab80d3

Xiaogang YUAN (袁小刚), Lei CHANG (苌磊), Xin YANG (杨鑫), Haishan ZHOU (周海山), Guangnan LUO (罗广南). On the heating mechanism of electron cyclotron resonance thruster immerged in a non-uniform magnetic field[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2020, 22(9): 94003-094003. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab80d3

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On the heating mechanism of electron cyclotron resonance thruster immerged in a non-uniform magnetic field

¹ Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China
² Science Island Brand of Graduate, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China

Funds: This work is supported by various funding sources: Chinese Academy of Sciences ‘100 Talent’ Program (B), Pre-research of Key Laboratory Fund for Equipment (No. 61422070306), Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Space Engine (No. 17DZ2280800), National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (No. BX201700248), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2017M622035).

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Received Date: December 05, 2019
Revised Date: March 16, 2020
Accepted Date: March 17, 2020

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Abstract

Abstract

To study the heating mechanism of electron cyclotron resonance thruster (ECRT) immersed in a non-uniform magnetic field, experiments and simulations are performed based on an electron cyclotron resonance plasma source at ASIPP. It is found that the first harmonic of electron cyclotron resonance is essential for plasma ignition at high magnetic field (0.0875 T), while the plasma can sustain without the first and second harmonics of electron cyclotron resonance at low magnetic field (till 0.0170T). Evidence of radial hollow density profile indicates that upper hybrid resonance, which has strong edge heating effect, is the heating mechanism of low-field ECRT. The heating mode transition from electron cyclotron resonance to upper hybrid resonance is also revealed. Interestingly, the evolutions of electron temperature and electron density with input power experience a ‘delayed’ jump, which may be correlated with the different power levels required for cyclotron and ionization. Moreover, when the field strength decreased, the variation of electron density behaves in an opposite trend with that of electron temperature, implying a possible competition of power deposition between them. The present work is of great interest for understanding the plasma discharge in ECRT especially immersed in a non-uniform magnetic field, and designing efficient ECRT using low magnetic field for economic space applications.
- electron cyclotron resonance,
- upper hybrid resonance,,
- non-uniform magnetic field,
- electric thruster

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References (22)

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