A study of particle emission from a radio frequency driven ferroelectric plasma thruster

Summary form only given. Many propulsion concepts exist for micropropulsion such as MEMS fabricated thrusters and pulsed plasma thrusters. The ferroelectric plasma thruster (FEPT) is a new micropropulsion concept. Preliminary calculations show that the thruster will ideally have specific impulse of 2000-3000 s, thrust of .1-1 mN, and specific power of 15 W/mN. The FEPT is a ferroelectric plasma source driven by oscillating high voltage at RF frequencies. The ferroelectric plasma source produces plasma at a surface partially covered by an electrode when the spontaneous polarization vector is reversed by application of an oscillating electric field. Thrust is generated by the FEPT by acceleration of ions from the surface plasma via the ponderomotive force. Potential advantages of the FEPT include the absence of the complicating components of a neutralizer and external acceleration grids. At the University of Missouri Plasma Physics, Engineering, and Technology Laboratory, experiments are being conducted on optimizing a FEPT for microspacecraft propulsion. This includes measurements of total electron and ion current emitted from the device as well as the energy distribution of the emitted ions. The requirements for plasma formation and the pulse-to-pulse reliability of formation will be studied. In addition, the effect of applied voltage amplitude, number of pulses per burst, electrode dimensions, and background gas pressure will be explored