Title:
Plasma Oscillations in Hall Thrusters
Authors:
E.Y.
Choueiri (EPPDyL,
Princeton University)
Document type:
Journal: Physics of Plasmas, 8(4): 1411-1426, April 2001.
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Abstract:
The nature of oscillations in the 1 kHz-60 MHz frequency range that
have been observed during operation of Hall thrusters is
quantitatively discussed. Contours of various plasma
parameters measured inside the accelerating channel of a typical Hall
thruster are used to evaluate the various stability criteria and
dispersion relations of oscillations that are suspected to
occur. A band by band up-to-date overview of the oscillations is
carried out with a description of their observed behavior and a
discussion of their nature and dependencies through
comparison of the calculated contours to reported observations. The
discussion encompasses the excitation of low frequency azimuthal
drift waves that can form a rotating spoke, axially
propagating "transit-time" oscillations, azimuthal drift waves,
ionization instability-type waves, and wave emission peculiar to
weakly ionized inhomogeneous plasmas in crossed electric
and magnetic fields.
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