Plume Narrowing in a Cylindrical Hall Thruster

The cylindrical Hall thruster features high ionization efficiency, quiet operation, ion acceleration in a large volume-to-surface ratio channel, and performance comparable with the state-of-the-art conventional Hall thrusters [1]. The magnetic field of the cylindrical Hall thruster also differs from conventional annular Hall thrusters in that significant numbers of electrons can be trapped through magnetic-electric mirroring. Recently, by overrunning the discharge current, these thrusters also featured very significant plume narrowing, accompanied by significantly enhanced efficiencies [2]. This plume narrowing may be related in detail to the unusual magnetic configuration of the cylindrical thruster and the populations of electrons that it can support. \newline \newline [1] Y. Raitses and N. J. Fisch, Parametric Investigations of Non-Conventional Hall Thruster, Physics of Plasmas 8, 2579 (2001). \newline [2] Y. Raitses, A. Smirnov, and N. J. Fisch, Enhanced Performance of Cylindrical Hall Thrusters, Applied Physics Letters 90, 221502 (2007).