Closed drift thrusters are reviewed. The publications on these thrusters constitute a large body of information. This article can therefore include only the most prominent theoretical and experimental features of closed drift thrusters. In some regards, this article is also an attempted synthesis of the differing views of these thrusters found in literature, as well as in our own work.In a closed drift thruster, the electric field that accelerates the ions is established by an electron current that passes through and is impeded by a magnetic field. The precessing electrons in this magnetic field follow a closed drift path giving this thruster its name. Closed drift thrusters are divided into magnetic layer and anode layer types, based both on the geometrical and material differences in the discharge channels of the two types, and on the different physical processes that take place within the discharge plasma.Considered as a whole, the publications on closed drift thrusters constitute an impressive body of information that, for the most part, was generated in Russia independently of US research on electric thrusters.

The electron conductivity of deuterium plasma behind a strong shock wave has been measured by the method of displaced magnetic flux. At shock-wave velocities from 0.9 × 107 to 1.25 × 107 cm/sec electron temperatures of 50 and 90 eV have been found. A comparison between the observed electron temperature and the electron temperature computed from the shock-wave velocity has been made. Piezoelectric measurements and compression of plasma by a strong magnetic field yield exactly the same value of the gas-kinetic pressure of plasma.

Articles you may be interested inMicrostructural comparisons of ultrathin Cu films deposited by ion-beam and dc-magnetron sputtering J. Appl. Phys. 97, 093301 (2005); 10.1063/1.1886275Effect of the substrate bias voltage on the physical characteristics of copper films deposited by microwave plasma-assisted sputtering techniqueThe biased target deposition apparatus described herein uses a low energy ion source. The ions are generated at energies for which the sputter yield is negligible for typical construction materials, so that there is no need for expensive optics to focus the ions on the target. The bias of the target provides the energy for sputtering the target material, in addition to restricting the sputtering to the target. Using the biased target technique, copper films were deposited with an average resistivity of about 2.5 ⍀ cm at a thickness of 1000 Å. This apparatus is well suited to the deposition of very thin (р1000 Å͒ high quality films, such as used in recent magnetoresistive devices. It is also well suited for use in compact and reliable multitarget systems to deposit such films.

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