Search

This study presents the absolute argon 1 s (in Paschens’s notation) densities and the gas temperature, Tg, obtained in a surfatron plasma in the pressure range 0:65 10 mbar, for which the pressure broadening can no more be neglected. Tg is in the range of 480-750 K, increasing with pressure and decreasing with the distance from the microwave launcher. Taking into account the line of sight effects of the absorption measurements, a good agreement is found with our previous measurements by Rayleigh scattering of Tg at the tube center. In the studied pressure range, the Ar(4 s) atom densities are in the order of 1016 1018 m3, increasing towards the end of the plasma column, decreasing with the pressure. In the low pressure side, a broad minimum is found around 10

International audience; Optical emisssion spectroscopy was employed to study a high pressure (100 s of Torr), slot-type (600 μm interelectrode gap), argon dc microdischarge, with added traces of nitrogen. Spatially resolved gas temperature profiles were obtained by analyzing rovibrational bands of the N2 first positive system. The gas temperature peaked near the cathode and increased with current. The contribution of Stark broadening to the hydrogen Hβ emission lineshape was used to extract the electron density. The axial distribution of electron density as well as visual observation revealed that the microdischarge positive column was highly constricted. The electron density near the sheath edge increased with both pressure and current.

International audience; The temporal characteristics of the Xe+ ion axial velocity distribution function (VDF) were recorded in the course of low-frequency discharge current oscillations (~14 kHz) of the 5 kW class PPS®X000 Hall thruster. The evolution in time of the ion axial velocity component is monitored by means of a laser induced fluorescence diagnostic tool with a time resolution of 100 ns. As the number of fluorescence photons is very low during such a short time period, a homemade pulse-counting lock-in system was used to perform real-time discrimination between background photons and fluorescence photons. The evolution in time of the ion VDF was observed at three locations along the thruster channel axis after a fast shutdown of the thruster power. The anode discharge current is switched off at 2 kHz during 5 μs without any synchronization with the current oscillation cycle. This approach allows to examine the temporal behavior of the ion VDF during decay and ignition of the discharge as well as during forced and natural plasma oscillations. Measurements show that the distribution function of the axial component of the Xe+ ion does change periodically in time with a frequency close to the current oscillation frequency in both forced and natural cases. The ion density and the mean velocity are found to oscillate, whereas the velocity dispersion stays constant, which indicates that ionization and acceleration layers have identical dynamics. Finally, variations over time in the electric field are for the first time experimentally evidenced in a crossed-field discharge.