Citation:
Plasma Sources Science and Technology, 27(11).
ISSN:
0963-0252
DOI:
10.1088/1361-6595/aaec32
Sponsor:
The authors acknowledge the initial development of the present model by V. Gomez and J. Navarro. This work was supported by the Spain's National Research and Development Plan (Project ESP2016-75887). Bin Tian was supported by a PhD grant from the Chinese Scholarship Council.
Project:
Gobierno de España. ESP2016-75887-P
Keywords:
Electric Space Propulsion
,
Helicon plasma thruster
,
Plasma-wave interaction
,
Helicon waves
,
Wave heating
An axisymmetric, finite difference frequency domain model is used to study the wave propagation and power absorption in a helicon plasma thruster operating inside a laboratory vacuum chamber. The magnetic field is not purely axial and the plasma beam is cylindAn axisymmetric, finite difference frequency domain model is used to study the wave propagation and power absorption in a helicon plasma thruster operating inside a laboratory vacuum chamber. The magnetic field is not purely axial and the plasma beam is cylindrical in the source and divergent in the magnetic nozzle. The influence of the magnetic field strength, plasma density, electron collision frequency and geometry on the wavefields and the power absorption maps is investigated, showing different power deposition patterns. The electromagnetic radiation is not confined to the source region but propagates into the nozzle divergent region, and indeed the power absorption there is not negligible. For the impedance at the antenna, the reactance is rather constant but the resistance is very dependent on operation parameters; optimal parameter values maximizing the resistance are found.[+][-]