Microwave-excited Microplasma Thruster with Applied Magnetic Field

This paper describes the thrust performance of an electrothermal microplasma thruster with an applied magnetic field (~2.4 kG), which consists of a cylindrical microplasma source and a conical micronozzle. The microplasma is sustained by microwaves and the propellant gas of Ar is heated up due to collisions between energetic electrons and neutrals. In order to decrease the diffusion loss of electrons due to the large surface-to-volume ratio in the microplasma chamber, we applied a strong axial magnetic field. The results of the thrust measurement have indicated that the thrust performance with the magnetic field are improved by 2.8 to 12.3% compared with the case without the magnetic field at the microwave power of 6 W and high mass flow rates (> 20 sccm).

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