Related papers: Experimental Study of a Low-Voltage Pulsed Plasma …
This paper presents a novel micropropulsion system for nanosatellite applications - a liquid fed pulsed-plasma thruster (LF-PPT) comprised of a Lorentz-force pulsed plasma accelerator (PPA) and a low-energy surface flashover (LESF) igniter.…
A special surface discharge is proposed based on the multi-anode electrode geometry. Instead of the traditional surface flashover of creepage on the insulator surface between the electrodes, a surface discharge with one of the electrodes…
Electric propulsion is now a sucessfull method for primary propulsion of deep space long duration missions and for geosyncronous satellite attitude control. Closed Drift Plasma Thruster, so called Hall Thruster or SPT (stationary plasma…
A fully kinetic 2D axisymmetric Particle-in-Cell (PIC) model is used to examine the effects of background facility pressure on the plasma transport and propulsive efficiency of magnetic nozzles. Simulations are performed for a low-power…
Conventional snowplow/1-D models assume the existence of single completely ionized plasma sheet in the discharge chamber of pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs). However, extensive experimental analysis and observations suggest the presence of…
Vacuum arc thruster performance in a magnetic nozzle configuration is experimentally characterized. Measurements are performed on a miniature coaxial thruster with an anode inner diameter of $1.8$ mm. The magnetic field B is produced by a…
We report on the experimental characterization of the RIT-2.5 radiofrequency ion thruster, complemented by particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to establish correlations between plasma parameters and extracted beam properties. The thruster…
A device has been built and tested, in which a ceramic superconducting cathode and a copper anode cause electrical discharges in low pressure gases, at temperatures between 50 and 70 K. The electrodes are connected to a capacitors array…
We have developed a Thomson scattering measurement system for the cascade arc discharge device designed for the plasma window (PW) application study. The PW is one of the plasma application techniques that sustain the steep pressure…
Plasma simulations are powerful tools for understanding fundamental plasma science phenomena and for process optimization in applications. To ensure their quantitative accuracy, they must be validated against experiments. In this work, such…
The results of an extensive operation of a Vacuum Spark plasma using Titanium electrodes in a 120 ns 150 kA discharge are presented. The hot spots are found to form with a regular spacing in a zippering Z-pinch plasma, which forms close to…
Microplasmas operated at atmospheric pressure show a number of peculiar dynamic phenomena. One of these phenomena is self-pulsing, which is characterized by intrinsic pulsing behavior of a DC driven plasma discharge. This work focuses on…
A parametric study of an underwater pulsed plasma discharge in pin-to-pin electrode configuration has been performed. The influence of two parameters has been reported, the water conductivity (from 50 to 500 $\mu$S/cm) and the applied…
A compact helicon plasma thruster that features a cusp in its internal magnetic field is analyzed with experiments and simulations. A compensated Langmuir probe and a Faraday cup are used in the former, while a hybrid PIC/fluid transport…
Plasma chemistry of main air components is implemented in a hybrid 2D axisymmetric simulation code to assess the air-breathing concept in an electrodeless plasma thruster. Relevant electron-heavy species collisions for diatomic molecules…
We present a novel microplasma flow reactor using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) driven by repetitively nanosecond high-voltage pulses. Our DBD-based geometry can generate a non-thermal plasma discharge at atmospheric pressure and…
The ZaP-HD sheared-flow-stabilized (SFS) Z-pinch device is a testbed for experimental investigation of plasma-electrode interactions. The graphite electrode is exposed to a high temperature, high density Z-pinch plasma while supplying large…
Ultrafast microwave power pulsation is demonstrated as an effective strategy to enhance CO2 conversion in atmospheric-pressure plasma reactors. While initial experiments at several hundred watts in a compact coaxial plasma torch showed…
Surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) actuators driven by the Pulsed-DC voltages are analyzed. The Pulsed-DC SDBD studied in this work is equivalent to a classical SDBD driven by a tailored Fast-Rise-Slow-Decay (FRSD) voltage…
Differentially rotating flows of unmagnetized, highly conducting plasmas have been created in the Plasma Couette Experiment. Previously, hot-cathodes have been used to control plasma rotation by a stirring technique [C. Collins et al.,…