An experimental study of ion generation and acceleration in a Cylindrical Hall Thruster

Several interesting effects that were measured in the plume of cylindrical Hall thrusters with mirror and cusp magnetic field topologies [1] such as unusually high ionization efficiency [2] and focusing of high energy ions with the enhancement of the cathode electron emission [3] are thought to be related to the potential structure and ambipolar trapping inside the thruster. A narrow field of view electrostatic energy analyzer and a time of flight tube are used to measure the angular distribution, energy distribution function and charge state of ions in the plasma plume from the thruster in order to determine the location where single and multiply charged ions of different energies are formed. \newline [1] Raitses and Fisch, Physics of Plasmas 8 (2001) 2579 \newline [2] Smirnov, Raitses and Fisch, J. Appl. Phys., 94 (2), 852 (2003) \newline [3] Granstedt, Raitses and Fisch, to appear in J. Appl. Phys.