Particle modeling of radial electron dynamics in a controlled discharge of a Hall thruster

Domínguez-Vázquez, Adrián; Taccogna, F.; Ahedo, Eduardo

doi:10.1088/1361-6595/aac968

Cited by 19 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In order to improve the realism of the simulation, two limitations of the current study should be addressed: (1) the radial walls are conducting instead of insulating (although they still float electrically like an insulator), (2) the simulation domain neglects the curvature of the thruster channel. Both of these points are expected to alter the equilibrium values [39], but not necessarily the overall conclusion on the electron transport and the SEE effects.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of secondary electron emission on plasma sheath characteristics and electron transport in an ${\bf{E}}\times {\bf{B}}$ discharge via kinetic simulations

Tavant

Croes

Lucken

et al. 2018

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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Hall-effect thrusters, which are electrostatic devices based on an E B plasma discharge, have successfully been used as satellite propulsion systems for the last few decades. However, the presence of anomalous electron cross-field transport is still poorly understood, and involves complex and strongly coupled mechanisms such as azimuthal electron drift instabilities and intense secondary electron emission (SEE) from the thruster walls. The present work focuses on the relative importance of these two phenomena. We use a 2D particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision model configured to simulate the radial-azimuthal directions near the thruster exit plane. A constant radial magnetic field and axial electric field are imposed, and electron drift instabilities are observed in the azimuthal (E B) direction. A simplified SEE model is implemented and an extensive parametric study is performed to directly determine the effect on electron transport. It is found that, for the operating conditions used in our simulations, SEE enhances the near-wall electron mobility by a factor 2, while reducing the bulk plasma mobility by about 20% (due to electron cooling). However, the dominant contribution to anomalous electron transport is still observed to be caused by electron drift instabilities driven by the E B discharge configuration. SEE modifies the electron mobility profile, but the spatially-averaged value remains relatively constant. Three different operating regimes are identified depending on the SEE rate value: two that are stable, and a third which shows an oscillatory behaviour. In addition to electron transport, the kinetic simulations give new insight into the plasma sheath formation at the radial walls, and comparison with typical analytical sheath models demonstrate important differences.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We note that the curvature in a real thruster can induce asymmetries in the plasma radial profile, as well as the relative magnitude of plasma-wall interactions [33,39]. Hence, the dispersion relation of the ECDI instability can be different in the regions near the inner and outer channel radii.…”

Section: D Pic Simulation Of a Hetmentioning

confidence: 93%

The effects of secondary electron emission on plasma sheath characteristics and electron transport in an ${\bf{E}}\times {\bf{B}}$ discharge via kinetic simulations

Tavant

Croes

Lucken

et al. 2018

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…This code has been benchmarked with other codes through the 2D axial-azimuthal benchmark by Charoy et al [33] and tested for other instability cases [36,61] 4.1.5. ISTP The 2D PIC code [18] developed at ISTP is a combination of previous 1D-radial [62,63,64] and 1D-azimuthal [30] PIC codes. The code is written in Fortran90 and it uses a structured, uniform, rectangular grid.…”

Section: Stanfordmentioning

confidence: 99%

2D radial-azimuthal particle-in-cell benchmark for E × B discharges

Villafana

Petronio

Denig

et al. 2021

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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In this paper we propose a representative simulation test-case of E × B discharges accounting for plasma wall interactions with the presence of both the Electron Cyclotron Drift Instability (ECDI) and the Modified-Two-Stream-Instability (MTSI). Seven independently developed Particle-In-Cell (PIC) codes have simulated this benchmark case, with the same specified conditions. The characteristics of the different codes and computing times are given. Results show that both instabilities were captured in a similar fashion and good agreement between the different PIC codes is reported as main plasma parameters were closely related within a 5% interval. The number of macroparticles per cell was also varied and statistical convergence was reached. Detailed outputs are given in the supplementary data, to be used by other similar groups in the perspective of code verification.

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“…Further developments of Taccogna and Sidorenko models have been carried out by Domínguez-Vázquez et al (2018a), and Campanell et al (2012aCampanell et al ( , 2012bCampanell et al ( , 2012cCampanell et al ( , 2013Campanell et al ( , 2015, Wang et al (2014), respectively. The first have implemented more sophisticated algorithms to adjust the mean neutral density to the desired mean plasma density, to avoid the refreshing of axially accelerated particles by ignoring the effect of Ez on updating the axial velocity and to correctly weigh lowdensity secondary electron populations.…”

Section: Pic Radial Models: Lateral Sheaths Secondary Electron Emissmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latest progress in Hall thrusters plasma modelling

Taccogna

Garrigues

2019

Rev. Mod. Plasma Phys.

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In the last thirty years, numerical models have revealed different physical mechanisms involved in the Hall thruster functioning leading to a bridge between analytical prediction / empirical intuition and experiments. For this reason, modeling effort is continuously increasing in the domain of Hall Thrusters. Two basic approaches exist: one based on fluid/hybrid simulation where the distribution of electrons is assumed Maxwellian and the plasma inside the thruster, considered as quasineutral, is described with macroscopic quantities (density, velocity and energy); the second approach is based on kinetic description for charged particles where no approximation is made for the distribution of particles. Fluid or hybrid approaches offer the advantage of demanding low run times and computational resources. They are very useful to perform parametric studies but actually the anomalous phenomena responsible for electron transport across the magnetic field barrier have not been selfconsistently modeled. Kinetic approach is able to better capture phenomena originating on the Debye scale length like the lateral sheaths, ExB electron drift instability, important to explain the anomalous electron transport, but it requires very long run times. For this latter, the progress in computer science offers the advantage to describe conditions more and more close to the thruster operation. In this review, we will present the two approaches emphasizing on numerical schemes used with assumptions and approximations and on main results obtained. Future directions on the Hall thruster modeling will finally outlined.

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Particle modeling of radial electron dynamics in a controlled discharge of a Hall thruster

Cited by 19 publications

References 30 publications

The effects of secondary electron emission on plasma sheath characteristics and electron transport in an ${\bf{E}}\times {\bf{B}}$ discharge via kinetic simulations

The effects of secondary electron emission on plasma sheath characteristics and electron transport in an ${\bf{E}}\times {\bf{B}}$ discharge via kinetic simulations

2D radial-azimuthal particle-in-cell benchmark for E × B discharges

Latest progress in Hall thrusters plasma modelling

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