The cross-field electron mobility in Hall thrusters is known to be enhanced by wall collisionality and turbulent plasma fluctuations. Although progress has been made in understanding the plasma-wall interaction and instabilities responsible for the anomalous transport, a predictive model based on the underlying physics of these processes has yet to emerge. Hybrid-PIC simulations of the Hall thruster have typically depended on semi-empirical models of the mobility to provide sufficient electron current to match experimental results. These models are capable of qualitatively predicting the plasma response over a wide range of operating conditions, but have limited quantitative capabilities unless they are calibrated with experimental data. The efficacy of several electron mobility models in reproducing the plasma response of a 6 kW laboratory Hall thruster are assessed. With respect to a two-region mobility model that is frequently reported in the literature, a three-region model for the mobility is shown to significantly improve the agreement with experimentally measured profiles of the plasma potential and electron temperature.

A major impediment towards a better understanding of the complex plasma-surface interaction is the limited diagnostic access to the material surface while it is undergoing plasma exposure. The Dynamics of ION Implantation and Sputtering Of Surfaces (DIONISOS) experiment overcomes this limitation by uniquely combining powerful, non-perturbing ion beam analysis techniques with a steady-state helicon plasma exposure chamber, allowing for real-time, depth-resolved in situ measurements of material compositions during plasma exposure. Design solutions are described that provide compatibility between the ion beam analysis requirements in the presence of a high-intensity helicon plasma. The three primary ion beam analysis techniques, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, elastic recoil detection, and nuclear reaction analysis, are successfully implemented on targets during plasma exposure in DIONISOS. These techniques measure parameters of interest for plasma-material interactions such as erosion/deposition rates of materials and the concentration of plasma fuel species in the material surface.

Ion sensitive probes (ISPs) are used to measure ion temperature and plasma potential in magnetized plasmas. Their operation relies on the difference in electron and ion Larmor radii to preferentially collect the ion species on a recessed electrode. Because of their simple two-electrode construction and optimal geometry for heat flux handling they are an attractive probe to use in the high heat flux boundary of magnetic confinement fusion experiments. However, the integrity of its measurements is rarely, if ever, checked under such conditions. Recent measurements with an ISP in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak have shown that its ion current is space-charge limited and thus its current-voltage (I -V ) response does not contain information on the ion temperature. We numerically solve a 1D Vlasov-Poisson model of ion collection to determine how much bias is needed to overcome space-charge effects and regain the classic I -V characteristic with an exponential decay. Prompted by the observations of space charge in C-Mod, we have performed a survey of ISP measurements reported in the literature. Evidence of space-charge limited current collection is found on many probes, with few authors noting its presence. Some probes are able to apparently exceed the classic 1D space-charge limit because electrons can E × B drift into the probe volume, partially reducing the net ion charge; it is argued that this does not, however, change the basic problem that space charge compromises the measurement of ion temperature. Guidance is given for design of ISPs to minimize the effects of space charge.

Miniature ion thrusters are well suited for future space missions that require high efficiency, precision thrust, and low contamination in the mN to sub-mN range. JPL's miniature xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster has demonstrated an efficient discharge and ion extraction grid assembly using filament cathodes and the internal conduction (IC) cathode. JPL is currently preparing to incorporate a miniature hollow cathode for the MiXI discharge. Computational analyses anticipate that an axially upstream hollow cathode location provides the most favorable performance and beam profile; however, the hot surfaces of the hollow cathode must be sufficiently downstream to avoid demagnetization of the cathode magnet at the back of the chamber, which can significantly reduce discharge performance. MiXI's ion extraction grids are designed to provide>3 mN of thrust; however, previous to this effort, the low-thrust characteristics had not been investigated. Experimental results obtained with the MiXI-II thruster (a near replica or the original MiXI thruster) show that sparse average discharge plasma densities of∼5×1015–5×1016 m-3allow the use of very low beamlet focusing extraction voltages of only∼250–500 V, thus providing thrust levels as low as 0.03 mN for focused beamlet conditions. Consequently, the thrust range thus far demonstrated by MiXI in this and other tests is 0.03–1.54 mN.

Miniature ion thrusters are well-suited future space missions such as Terrestrial Planet Finder-Interferometer (TPF-I), where high efficiency thrusters using non-contaminating noble gas propellant are desirable. Transient dynamic and orbital analyses have shown that the low-noise, continuous thrust of the Miniature Xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster is desirable for TPF-I formation rotation maneuvers when compared with other thruster options [1], [2]. The 3cm diameter MiXI thruster, Figure 1, was originally designed using experimental methods and is capable of high Isp (> 3,000 sec), propellant efficiency > 80%, and thrust from <0.1 mN to >1.5 mN [3]. The MiXI thruster must demonstrate high levels of thrust resolution and a low minimum impulse bit to ensure it meets the precision formation flying needs of missions such as TPF-I. A novel concept for controlling the ion extraction voltages yields the necessary thrust characteristics for the MiXI thruster. Experiments verify these techniques and twodimensional computational models show that such techniques should have minimal effect on the lifetime of the thruster. During this effort, the MiXI thruster incorporates, for the first time, flight like hollow cathodes for both the discharge chamber and beam neutralization.