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Non-dimensional performance trends of a pulsed plasma accelerator

Abstract

The non-dimensional performance trends of a pulsed plasma accelerator that is prone to mass leakage out of the current sheet and into a wake are presented. The non-dimensional total impulse, specific impulse and efficiency are found to depend in a straightforward manner on the non-dimensional current sheet and wake mass and velocity, which are experimentally measured. The performance is found to depend on the propellant species and pressure. Specifically, performance increases with pressure for hydrogen and helium propellants, stays constant for neon and decreases for argon. These trends indicate that the leakage process, which differs for different propellants, has a large influence on the performance of the device as a plasma accelerator.