Speaker
Nikita Marusov
Description
See the full Abstract at http://ocs.ciemat.es/EPS2018ABS/pdf/P2.4006.pdf
Global modes of gradient drift instability in Hall plasma thruster
N.A. Marusov1−3 , E.A. Sorokina1,2 , V.P. Lakhin1,2 , V.I. Ilgisonis2,4 , A.I. Smolyakov2,5
1 NRC "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow, Russia
2 Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), Moscow, Russia
3 Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow region, Russia
4 State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM, Moscow, Russia
5 University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Plasma in coaxial Hall thrusters is subject to a lot of instabilities driven by azimuthal E ×
B electron flow [1, 2]. Such instabilities directly affect the operational capabilities of plasma
thrusters due to their impact on anomalous electron mobility across the external magnetic field
[1, 3, 4]. In this paper the instability analysis of global electrostatic modes in inhomogeneous
partially magnetized plasmas (unmagnetized ions and magnetized electrons) is performed in the
framework of two fluid model. The eigenvalue equation, including the effects of electron inertia,
gradients of plasma density and magnetic field, along with the shear of equilibrium electron
flow, is derived and numerically solved for the Hall thrusters specific values and axial profiles
of external magnetic field and plasma parameters [5]. The obtained solutions are compared with
the results of local stability analysis, predicting the existence of the long-wavelength instability
in the near-anode region of thruster channel [6]. It is shown that the characteristics and the
structure of unstable eigenmodes strongly depend on the geometry of the thruster. For some
ratios of the acceleration channel length to its radius the instability can be fully stabilized.
References
[1] E.Y. Choueiri, Phys. Plasmas 8, 1411 (2001)
[2] J.P. Boeuf, Front. Phys. 2, 74 (2014)
[3] A.I. Morozov, Yu.V. Esipchuk, A.M. Kapulkin, V.A. Nevrovskii, and V.A. Smirnov, Sov.
Phys. Tech. Phys. 17, 482 (1972)
[4] Yu.V. Esipchuk and G.N. Tilinin, Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys. 21, 417 (1976)
[5] R. Hofer, I. Mikellides, I. Katz, and D. Goebel, in Proc. of 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE
Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, AIAA 2007-5267, 2007
[6] N.A. Marusov, E.A. Sorokina, V.P. Lakhin, V.I. Ilgisonis, in Proc. of 44th EPS Conference
on Plasma Physics, P4.416, 2017
