Predictive Control of Plasma Kinetics: Time-Resolved Measurements of Inert Gas Mixing in a Hollow Cathode Discharge

Abstract

With the continued push for more efficient use of propellant in HETs, better control of the electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs) is needed. This is because, in order to make a plasma thruster more efficient, electrons with energies that contribute to the ionization of neutrals need to be increased, and those that are involved in transient processes, or that do not have enough energy to ionize need to be decreased. However, the ability to predictably control the EEDFs of low temperature plasmas (LTPs) remains a challenging problem in plasma physics due to the complex electromagnetic interactions that take place in the actual system.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA569757

Entities

People

  • A. D. Gallimore
  • K. R. Trent
  • M S McDonald
  • R. B. Lobbia

Organizations

  • University of Michigan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Distribution Functions
  • Electric Propulsion
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Electron Energy
  • Electrons
  • Field Effect Transistors
  • Frequency
  • Gas Flow
  • Glow Discharges
  • Hall Effect
  • Hall Thrusters
  • Langmuir Probes
  • Measurement
  • Metastable State
  • Physics
  • Test Facilities
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster