Influence of Electron Sources on the Near-field Plume in a Multistage Plasma Thruster

Abstract

n order to obtain a better understanding of the near-field plume of a multistage plasma thruster, the influence of an external electron source is investigated by Particle-In-Cell simulations. The variation of the source position showed a strong influence of the magnetic field configuration on the electron distribution and therefore on the plume plasma. In the second part of this work, higher energetic electrons were injected in order to model collision-induced diffusion in the plume. This broadens the electron distribution, which leads to a more pronounced divergence angle in the angular ion distribution

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