Effect of Strong Magnetic Field on Temperature Distribution in Plasma Jet

* Presented as Paper IEPC-01-131 at the 27 International Electric Propulsion Conference, Pasadena, CA, 15-19 October, 2001. † Copyright © 2001 by the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society. All rights reserved. An experimental study of plasma jet at a low pressure was carried out to examine the influence of strong magnetic field on the temperature distribution. This is a fundamental study of the possibility that the jet can be controlled by the strong magnetic field. A magnetic field was applied to the jet in the vacuum chamber by means of a pair of superconducting coils. An optical probe was set at the middle between both coils. Argon emission spectra were measured at vertical positions to determine the excitation temperature. The measured intensity distributions were also transformed into the radial emission profile by the Abel-inversion. The radial temperature distributions were determined from the relative emission intensity. It was indicated that the excited temperature around the central part of the jet increases with the strength of magnetic and that the temperature slope toward the outside of the jet becomes obviously large as the field strength increases.