CCD images of Hall effect thruster plume dynamics after ultrafast current ignition

Author

Vial, V. ; Mazouffre, S. ; Prioul, M. ; Pagnon, D. ; Bouchoule, A.

Author_Institution

GREMI Lab., Univ. of Orleans, France

Volume

33

Issue

2

fYear

2005

fDate

4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

524

Lastpage

525

Abstract

The dynamic behavior of the Hall effect thruster plasma plume is investigated after ultrafast current ignition driven by a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor MOSFET power switch. Time-resolved optical measurements performed with a gated intensified charged coupled device (CCD) camera allow to reconstruct the plume temporal features. Images of the ion beam reveal oscillations in plasma light intensity linked to "breathing" instabilities. The observed periodic variations of the beam divergence originate from the displacement of the ionization layer within the thruster magnetic barrier.

Keywords

ionisation; plasma diagnostics; plasma instability; plasma magnetohydrodynamics; plasma oscillations; plasma transport processes; CCD images; Hall effect thruster plasma plume; Hall effect thruster plume dynamics; MOSFET power switch; beam divergence; breathing instabilities; gated intensified charged coupled device camera; ion beam; ionization layer; metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor power switch; plasma light intensity oscillations; plume temporal features; thruster magnetic barrier; time-resolved optical measurements; ultrafast current ignition; Charge coupled devices; FETs; Hall effect; Ignition; MOSFET circuits; Optical devices; Particle beam optics; Plasma devices; Plasma measurements; Power MOSFET; Breathing modes; Hall thruster; optical emission; plasma instabilities;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2005.845363

Filename

1420558