Clusters of Hall thrusters may be used to produce electric propulsion systems capable of operating at power levels in excess of the current state of the art. One of the key factors to be considered in determining the optimum cluster architecture is the configuration of the electron-emitting cathode(s). This work presents experimentally determined plume properties and discharge current character...

A model for negative glow metal-vapor ion lasers that self-consistently describes the dynamics of the negative glow and the cathode sheath regions of the discharge has been developed. The model computes the electron energy distribution and the population of relevant excited states in the negative glow self-consistently with the charged particle fluxes and electric field distribution in the cath...