Investigation on Mechanism of Altitude Characteristic for Air-breathing Pulsed Laser Thruster

Altitude characteristic is of great importance for studying when an air-breathing pulsed laser thruster works in the dense atmosphere condition of 0-30 km altitude. The experimental findings all over the world show that the similar relationship between impulse coupling coefficient and altitude. According to strong explosion theory and an ideal gas model, a dimensionless factor indicating energy law of similitude is introduced, and formula of impulse coupling coefficient is deducted. Then theoretical study of altitude characteristic is carried out and mechanism of altitude characteristic is further explained. The results indicate that there is a maximum value of impulse coupling coefficient if the dimensionless factor equals to 0. 41 in theory, and whether the phenomena of maximum appear or not depends on the range of the dimensionless factor related to altitude. As to a conical nozzle with the fixed length of 120 mm, the relationship between the sonic velocity and the dimensionless factor causes the maximum phenomenon at the altitude of about 12. 5 km, and maximum theoretical impulse coupling coefficient is also found in the experimental investigations. The mechanism of altitude characteristic for air-breathing pulsed laser thruster is discovered in this article, which will provide reference for further research on altitude characteristic.