Omri Hamo - Video Lecture

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

2D Particle-in-Cell Simulation of the Narrow Channel Hall Thruster Plume

Omri Hamo

Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Technion, Israel

Abstract

A very low power Hall effect thruster, known as the narrow channel Hall thruster (NCHT), was recently developed at the Aerospace Plasma Laboratory, Technion. Experimental measurements of the discharge inside the channel are extremely challenging due to the small dimensions of the NCHT channel (2 mm in length and 1 mm wide). In this work, a new particle-in-cell (PIC) model of the NCHT discharge is developed, capable of providing 2D spatial distributions of the plasma parameters inside the channel. A previous numerical model including the channel alone was characterized by a sheath near the exit plane. Therefore, in the new numerical model we included the near plume region. The new results differ significantly from the previous model, thus confirming our hypothesis that modeling the plume region is crucial for studying the NCHT discharge.