Related papers: Kinetic Simulation of Ion Thruster Plume Neutraliz…
Gridded ion thrusters are tested in ground vacuum chambers to verify their performance when deployed in space. However, the presence of high background pressure and conductive walls in the chamber leads to facility effects that increase…
We investigate facility effects on a reduced-scale gridded ion thruster plume using a fully kinetic, three-dimensional Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo Collision (PIC-MCC) solver coupled with a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) neutral…
Ion beam charge neutralization by electron injection is a complex kinetic process. Recent experiments show that resulting self-potential of the beam after neutralization by plasma could be much lower than the temperature of plasma electrons…
Electrical space thrusters show important advantages for applications in outer space compared to chemical thrusters, as they allow a longer mission lifetime with lower weight and propellant consumption. Mature technologies on the market…
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…
Producing a dense background plasma for neutralization purposes is experimentally difficult and requires a large amount of energy. We show that even an underdense background plasma with a small relative density can achieve high…
The dynamics of the neutral atoms in Hall thrusters affect several plasma processes, from the ionization to the electrons' mobility. In the context of Hall thruster's particle-in-cell (PIC) modeling, the neutrals are often treated…
A hybrid model where ions are treated as particles and electrons with fluid equations for magnetized electron flux is adapted in order to simulate a vacuum arc source. This source is a candidate for solid propellant propulsion system of…
New computational tools are essential for accurate modeling and simulation of the next generation of muon-based accelerators. One of the crucial physics processes specific to muon accelerators that has not yet been simulated in detail is…
Complex plasmas are interesting systems as the charged dust can self-assemble into different types of ordered structures. To understand the mechanisms which govern the transitions from one type of structure to another, it is necessary to…
In this study, we quantify how charged particle concentration affects the neutralization rate of aerosol particles, focusing on the role of ion dynamics shaped by internal electric fields arising from net space charge. Conventional…
This paper is a simulation based investigation of the effect of elastic collisions and effectively elastic-like excitation collisions between electrons and background neutrals on the dynamics of a cylindrically trapped electron cloud that…
Large-payload deep space missions are impractical with current rocket propulsion technologies in use. Chemical thrusters yield a high thrust but low efficiency while ion thrusters are efficient but provide too little thrust for large…
The influence of the pressure of a chemically inert carrier-gas on the nucleation rate is one of the biggest puzzles in the research of gas-liquid nucleation. Different experiments can show a positive effect, a negative effect, or no effect…
Low-frequency axial oscillations (5-50 kHz) stand out as a pervasive feature observed in many types of Hall thrusters. While it is widely recognized that the ionization effects play the central role in this mode, as manifested via the large…
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…
We investigate discharge inception in air, in uniform background electric fields above and below the breakdown threshold. We perform 3D particle simulations that include a natural level of background ionization in the form of positive and…
Ionic liquid ion sources are a promising technology that can be used for many applications from space propulsion to focused ion beam microetching. Ionic liquid ion sources produce ion beams by extracting single ions and metastable solvated…
Photophoretic levitation is a propulsion mechanism in which lightweight objects can be lifted and controlled through their interactions with light. Since photophoretic forces on macroscopic objects are usually maximized at low pressures,…
In this paper, we will describe some of the recent experimental measurements [1, 2, 3] performed at CESRTA [4], and the supporting simulations, which probe the interaction of the electron cloud with the stored beam. These experiments have…