Propulsion Research on the Hybrid Plume Rocket
Abstract
The propagation of rf waves launched in the end cell and central of the tandem mirror propulsion device has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Theoretically, a computer code has been developed to study the wave propagation in a nonhomogeneous magnetic field. It was found that the amplitude of the wave excited in the plasma peaked while approaching the resonance, but then damped out, indicating strong absorption of the wave by the plasma. The absorption took place near the axis and midplane of the device. The experimental results confirmed the theoretical prediction of the phenomena of the resonance effect. This means that the rf power is heating the plasma in center contrary to the earlier prediction that the heating was near the edge. Therefore higher efficiency can be possible. A very important discovery of this experiment was the broadening of the ICRF Fourier spectrum in the presence of the plasma.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 20, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA229163
Entities
People
- F. R. Chang-diaz
- T. F. Yang
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology