Effect of the cathode on the 3D plume distribution of a Hall thruster

摘要

A Hall thruster usually has a symmetric cylindrical structure with the cathode placed on the outlet along a particular radial direction. In order to evaluate the effect of the nonaxisymmetric location of the cathode on the plume distribution, the 3D ion current density distribution was measured and the plume deflection angles were defined. Experimental results show that high electron density near the cathode would cause plume deflection angles along a radial direction toward the cathode. The effect of the cathode’s nonaxisymmetric location upon the discharge’s axisymmetric characteristics is an important physical problem, which deserves emphasizing.