Full diagnostics of an inductive plasma section of an ion thruster

ISBN-13: 9786202197380 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 112 str.

Valentin Riaby; Vladimir Savinov Pavel Masherov; Valery Yakunin

Opis

Inductive low pressure xenon plasma was generated in an input section of an ion thruster. Its full diagnostics consisted of integral property measurements (Patented) and local plasma parameter determination. Accurate local diagnostics disclosed plasma parameter distributions using cylindrical Langmuir probes. Their leads were protected by conventional bare shields. Subsequent analysis showed that they distorted xenon plasma lowering all its parameters. Then probe diagnostics was specifically arranged with radially movable straight probe-1 and the additional L-shaped probe-2. They both operated in one special position: shield-1 was absent and shield-2 was non-zero disclosing measurement errors which helped to correct probe-1's data. As the result three new probe applications have been proposed: a) elimination of bare probe protective shield's influence on measurement results (Pat. Applic-n); b) measurements of the probe sheath thicknesses and the mean ion mass using cylindrical probes in Maxwellian plasmas (Patented); c) evaluation of ion current density distributions to an ion extracting electrode of an ion thruster arranged by the plane by-wall probe simulator (Pat. Applic-n).

O autorze

V.A.Riaby was born in 1938 in Ukraine. In 1956 graduated from the Kalinin Suvorov Military College with golden medal, in 1962 - from the Engine Dept. of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI). Scientific degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences was received in 1972. Research interests/activities are in plasma physics, diagnostics & plasma technology.