Particle in cell simulation of plasma thrusters

A new 3 dimensional Particle-in-Cell code is applied to simulate the operation of a 100 W CHT thruster. In the simulation a spoke moving with a velocity of about 1 km/s was observed. The initial position of the spoke was found to be strongly correlated with the cathode placement. The simulation has shown that the depletion of neutral gas can lead to azimuthal asymmetry of the discharge and possibly to the spoke phenomenon. The spoke and non-spoke regimes of the CHT operation were achieved in the simulation. The simulations have demonstrated that the presence of the spoke visibly changes the ion flow pattern in the thruster.