Effect of magnetic field distribution in cylindrical Hall current plasma sources

Summary form only given, as follows. A 9 cm Hall plasma source with a cusp type magnetic field distribution applied in a cylindrical ceramic channel exhibited discharge characteristics similar to conventional coaxial Hall thrusters. Probe measurements inside the plasma source indicated that localization of the acceleration and ionization regions depends strongly on the magnetic field distribution, but established mainly in the cylindrical part of the channel. In addition, ion flux measurements demonstrated high ionization efficiency of the cylindrical source in a broad range of gas flow rates and discharge voltages. The absence of the inner body in this novel plasma source enables miniaturization of the design and placement of segmented electrodes on the channel back wall to control the electric field distribution.