Comparison of hybrid Hall thruster model to experimental measurements

A two-dimensional hybrid particle-in-cell numerical model has been constructed in the radial-axial plane with the intent of examining the physics governing Hall thruster operation. The electrons are treated as a magnetized quasi-one-dimensional fluid and the ions are treated as collisionless, unmagnetized discrete particles. The anomalously high electron conductivity experimentally observed in Hall thrusters is accounted for using experimental measurements of electron mobility in the Stanford Hall Thruster. While an experimental mobility results in improved simulation of electron temperature and electric potential relative to a Bohm-type model, results suggest that energy losses due to electron wall interactions may also be an important factor in accurately simulating plasma properties. Using a simplified electron wall damping model modified to produce general agreement with experimental measurements, an evaluation is made of differing treatments of electron mobility, background gas, neutral wall interactions, and charge exchange collisions. Although background gas results in two populations of neutrals, the increased neutral density has little effect on other plasma properties. Diffuse neutral wall interactions are in better agreement with experimental measurements than specular scattering. Also, charge exchange collisions result in an increase in average neutral velocity of 11% and a decrease in average ion velocity of 4% near the exit plane. The momentum exchange that occurs during charge exchange collisions is found to be negligible. © 2006 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2336186