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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Optimization, Test and Diagnostics of Miniaturized Hall Thrusters
Published on: February 16, 2019
Time-resolved ion velocity distribution in a cylindrical Hall thruster: heterodyne-based experiment and modeling
Abstract:
Time-resolved variations of the ion velocity distribution function (IVDF) are measured in the cylindrical Hall thruster using a novel heterodyne method based on the laser-induced fluorescence technique. This method consists in inducing modulations of the discharge plasma at frequencies that enable the coupling to the breathing mode. Using a harmonic decomposition of the IVDF, one can extract each harmonic component of the IVDF from which the time-resolved IVDF is reconstructed. In addition, simulations have been performed assuming a sloshing of the IVDF during the modulation that show agreement between the simulated and measured first order perturbation of the IVDF.
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