International audienceKinetic models and numerical simulations of E×B plasma discharges predict microfluctuations at the scales of the electron cyclotron drift radius and the ion plasma frequency. With the help of a specially designed collective scattering device, the first experimental observations of small-scale electron density fluctuations inside the plasma volume are obtained, and observed in the expected ranges of spatial and time scales. The anisotropy, dispersion relations, form factor, amplitude, and spatial distribution of these electron density fluctuations are described and compared to theoretical expectations

Microturbulence has been implicated in anomalous transport at the exit of the Hall thruster, and recent simulations have shown the presence of an azimuthal wave which is believed to contribute to the electron axial mobility. In this paper, the 3D dispersion relation of this E Â B electron drift instability is numerically solved. The mode is found to resemble an ion acoustic mode for low values of the magnetic field, as long as a non-vanishing component of the wave vector along the magnetic field is considered, and as long as the drift velocity is small compared to the electron thermal velocity. In these conditions, an analytical model of the dispersion relation for the instability is obtained and is shown to adequately describe the mode obtained numerically. This model is then fitted on the experimental dispersion relation obtained from the plasma of a Hall thruster by the collective light scattering diagnostic. The observed frequency-wave vector dependences are found to be similar to the dispersion relation of linear theory, and the fit provides a non-invasive measurement of the electron temperature and density. V C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

This paper presents recent efforts to better understand and quantify charged particle transport in Hall effect thrusters (HETs). Particle-in-cell (PIC) models, hybrid models, laser induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements and collective scattering (CS) experiments are combined to get a better insight into anomalous electron transport in HETs and to increase the predictive capabilities of simulation codes.PIC models have demonstrated that plasma turbulence associated with the development of a high frequency, short wavelength azimuthal instability can be responsible for anomalous transport. Scaling laws for anomalous electron mobility have not yet been derived and hybrid models, which are more practical than PIC models for parametric studies, must use empirical, adjustable transport coefficients that can be inferred from PIC results or LIF measurements of the ion velocity distribution function. CS experiments are aimed at validating the PIC model predictions of the azimuthal instability. The CS results show the first direct experimental evidence of the azimuthal instability predicted by the PIC code. The paper illustrates the synergy between experiments and models toward a complete and quantitative understanding of the physics of HETs.

Backscattering of a microwave beam launched in oblique incidence makes possible measurement of density fluctuations close to the cut-off with a selected wave number k⃗⊥=−2k⃗i, where k⃗i is the beam wave vector at the reflection layer. On the system installed on Tore Supra, the incidence of the Gaussian beam is controlled thanks to a tiltable monostatic antenna. The microwave part of the system is based on a fluctuation reflectometer scheme with heterodyne detection, and the choice of a V band (50–75 GHz) microwave source and O mode polarization is appropriate for typical enhanced plasma regimes (n0=3–7×1019 m−3). Both the scattering wave number k⊥ and the scattering localization r/a can be changed during a shot, owing to the steppable probing frequency and the motorized antenna (tilt angle 0–10°). The wave-number range k⊥ is 4–15 cm−1, with a wave-number resolution around 2 cm−1, and the localization r/a∼0.3–0.85. The Doppler effect also provides the perpendicular velocity profile for the same position range. Experiments confirm the diagnostic capabilities.