Design and experimental study of an unclosed-loop E×B Hall thruster

A common form of sophisticated electric propulsion technology in spacecraft is the Hall thruster. The traditional annular closed-loop Hall thrusters are unable to carry out the 2D distribution diagnosis of plasma inside the discharge channel due to structural limitations. In order to address this issue, an unclosed-loop linear channel E×B Hall thruster with optical diagnostic windows was constructed, the magnetic and flow fields inside the thruster were simulated and evaluated, and magnetic field design principles were suggested. Further, this paper verified the effective plasma confinement and electromagnetic field acceleration by the linear discharge channel configuration through steady-state discharge parameter monitoring, transient discharge oscillation analysis, plasma parameter diagnosis in the beam region, and plasma distribution structure imaging in the ionized region inside the discharge channel. The discharge mode regulation based on the discharge voltage was realized, and the evolutionary tendency of the discharge mode with the propellant flow rate was identified. Finally, this paper successfully obtained the 2D distribution fine structure of plasma inside the discharge channel on the magnetic field configuration profile. In summary, this paper realized the stable discharge and mode regulation of the plasma in the E×B field of a Hall-like thruster under a simple device, combined with the optical diagnosis of the distribution structure of the plasma in the two-dimensional plane, and put forward a new idea for the further microscopic manifestation of the typical discharge oscillation process of a Hall thruster.