• DocumentCode
    1588425
  • Title

    Modeling of a helicon plasma source

  • Author

    Batishchev, O. ; Molvig, K.

  • Author_Institution
    Dept. of Nucl. Eng., MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Volume
    1
  • fYear
    2001
  • Firstpage
    114
  • Abstract
    A helicon gas discharge is used in the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) to initiate plasmas. The overall performance of the VASIMR thruster depends upon the efficiency of the helicon plasma source. A set of various models is proposed to facilitate our understanding of recent experimental data. These models range from 0-D plasma-chemistry model of the discharge to more elaborate fully kinetic models of neutral gas and plasma dynamics under typical VASIMR thruster conditions.
  • Keywords
    discharges (electric); plasma chemistry; plasma kinetic theory; plasma production; VASIMR; Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket; helicon plasma source; kinetic model; neutral gas; plasma dynamics; plasma-chemistry model; thruster; Atom optics; Electron mobility; Fault location; Hydrogen; Ionization; Plasma density; Plasma sources; Plasma temperature; Plasma transport processes; Plasma waves;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • Conference_Titel
    Pulsed Power Plasma Science, 2001. PPPS-2001. Digest of Technical Papers
  • Conference_Location
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
  • Print_ISBN
    0-7803-7120-8
  • Type

    conf

  • DOI
    10.1109/PPPS.2001.1002007
  • Filename
    1002007