Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation of discharge characteristics in cylindrical anode layer hall plasma accelerator

A current drop is found when the discharge voltage is increased in the cylindrical anode layer hall plasma accelerator and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is performed to investigate the phenomenon. The simulation results which agree with experiments show that the ion density in the discharge region does not always rise when the discharge voltage is increased and the ion density reaches a maximum value at the appropriate voltage. This phenomenon is considered to be the macroscopic ramification of the change in the ionization cross section as the electron energy varies. With regard to Ar+, the largest ionization cross section appears when the electron energy is 45–110 eV. In the hall plasma accelerator, the electron drift speed is governed by E/B and controls the electron energy. Finally, the cross section of producing Ar+ is determined by E/B. Our analysis reveals that the proper E/B value in the ionization region is 2.81 × 106 m/s to 4.40 × 106 m/s for argon.