Hall Thruster Plasma Potential Measurements from Synchronized Emissive Probes

Stanford University researcher A. W. Smith collected space- and time-correlated measurements of floating and plasma potential in the near-field region of a coaxial Hall plasma discharge. The data likely captures quasicoherent fluctuations in discharge current and plasma potential, including structures resembling tilted drift waves. The measurements were made to study phenomena like the 'breathing mode' ionization instability and anomalous electron transport.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the correlation between plasma potential spikes and luminous axial features based on synchronized probe measurements.
• Modeling the structure and rotation of helical plasma potential fluctuations resembling tilted drift waves.
• Investigating the role of quasicoherent fluctuations in driving anomalous cross-field electron transport in the near-field region.
• Studying pathways for back-streaming ion acceleration toward the discharge front pole based on plasma potential structure.

Strengths

• Measurements are space- and time-correlated, providing a multi-dimensional view of plasma behavior.
• Data collection used an emissive probe synchronized to discharge current fluctuations, suggesting precise temporal alignment.
• Analysis identifies specific physical structures like potential spikes and helical waves, indicating targeted investigation.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

A. W. Smith, Stanford University, via paperswithcode.

Collection Method

Measurements made using an emissive probe in the near field, external flow cathode region of a coaxial Hall plasma discharge.