Diagnostics of Xe Ion in an Anode-layer Type Hall Thruster Using Laser-Induced Fluorescence

抄録

The discharge oscillation in an anode-layer type Hall thruster is one of the most serious problems to be overcome. In general, a hollow anode is used in order to stabilize the operation. Recent numerical simulation results show the stable operation depends on the ionization rate in the hollow anode. In order to verify the simulation result, it is needed to measure the plasma profile in the hollow anode.
In this paper, as a first step, the number density and the velocity distribution of single-charged xenon ions in an anode-layer type Hall thruster were investigated by means of Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) for the 5d²F_7/2→6p²D⁰_5/2 excitation transition at 834.7 nm detecting the non-resonant line to the 6s²P_3/2 state at 541.9 nm. As a result, we obtained the relative ion number density and the velocity distributions. The ion velocity distribution function shows both ionization and acceleration occur in the acceleration channel, while only ionization occurs in the hollow anode.