Fusing spatially and temporally separated single-point turbulent plasma flow measurements into two-dimensional time-resolved visualizations

Single-point measurements of time-resolved plasma density fluctuations are collected throughout a planar region of the exhaust plume downstream from a Hall effect thruster. A matrix of empirical discrete time transfer functions is created between the thruster discharge current (input) signal and the measured (output) electron density signals, thus estimating the thruster-plume system. Applying a fixed input signal, the two-dimensional time-resolved response of the plume is then determined - revealing the structure and evolution of the plasma discharge. Discrete turbulent bursts of plasma are tracked as the thruster exhales breaths of ionized propellant at rates in excess of 12 km/s. In effect, fusion in both the spatial and time domain is being used in this novel application.