Numerical simulation of the plasma acceleration process in a magnetically enhanced micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster

Jinyue GENG (耿金越); Yongcai CHEN (陈永财); Surong SUN (孙素蓉); Wendong HUANG (黄文栋); Haixing WANG (王海兴)

doi:10.1088/2058-6272/ab9282

Plasma Science and Technology > 2020 > 22(9): 94012-094012. > DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab9282

Jinyue GENG (耿金越), Yongcai CHEN (陈永财), Surong SUN (孙素蓉), Wendong HUANG (黄文栋), Haixing WANG (王海兴). Numerical simulation of the plasma acceleration process in a magnetically enhanced micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2020, 22(9): 94012-094012. DOI: 10.1088/2058-6272/ab9282

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Numerical simulation of the plasma acceleration process in a magnetically enhanced micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster

¹ Beijing Institute of Control Engineering, Beijing 100094, People's Republic of China
² School of Astronautics, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100191, People's Republic of China

Funds: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11735004, 11575019, and 11702021), National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (BX20180029), and Defense Industrial Technology Development Program (JCKY2018203B029)

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Received Date: January 18, 2020
Revised Date: May 09, 2020
Accepted Date: May 11, 2020

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Abstract

Abstract

A particle-in-cell simulation is conducted to investigate the plasma acceleration process in a micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster. A coaxial electrode structure thruster with an applied magnetic field configuration is used to investigate the effects of the distribution of the magnetic field on the acceleration process and the mechanism of electrons and ions. The modeling results show that due to the small Larmor radius of electrons, they are magnetized and bound by the magnetic field lines to form a narrow electron channel. Heavy ions with a large Larmor radius take a long time to keep up with the electron movement. The presence of a magnetic field strengthens the charge separation phenomenon. The electric field caused by the charge separation is mainly responsible for the ion acceleration downstream of the computation. The impact of variations in the distribution of the magnetic field on the acceleration of the plasma is also investigated in this study, and it is found that the position of the magnetic coil relative to the thruster exit has an important impact on the acceleration of ions. In order to increase the axial velocity of heavy ions, the design should be considered to reduce the confinement of the magnetic field on the electrons in the downstream divergent part of the applied magnetic field.
- micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster,
- magnetic field,
- ion acceleration

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References (47)

References

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Numerical simulation of the plasma acceleration process in a magnetically enhanced micro-cathode vacuum arc thruster