Overview of principles and characteristics of Hall thrusters

Winston Frias
Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan 116 Science Place Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2 Saskatoon, Canada Tel: + 1 306 966 6465; email: wpf274@mail.usask.ca

1. Introduction
Hall thrusters are coaxial plasma accelerators used in spacecraft propulsion. The rst developments in this technology were made in the Soviet Union in the 1960s were several of them were own aboard different space missions. These thrusters are particularly well suited for station keeping and orbit transfer because they offer signicant savings in propellant mass. Hall effect thrusters have been classed as both electrostatic and electromagnetic propulsion systems. An electrostatic eld accelerates the ions in the propellant stream but that eld is, to a large extent, produced by the actions of plasma electrons interacting with a magnetic eld, giving both classes a claim to the technique. In Hall effect thrusters, also referred to as closed drift thrusters, a heavy gas, xenon in most implementations to date, is ionized and accelerated by an electric eld. An electron current passing through and being impeded by a magnetic eld establishes the acceleration eld. The precessing electrons in this magnetic eld follow a closed drift path, giving rise to one of the names for this technique. The ow of the drifting electrons, which is perpendicular to both the applied magnetic eld and the current ow in the plasma, is due to the Hall effect, the source of the other name for this type of thruster. The mechanical conguration of a Hall effect thruster is an annular discharge chamber in which a radial magnetic eld is established between an inner, cylindrical ferromagnetic pole piece and an outer, ferromagnetic ring. The chamber is closed at one end, where an annular anode is situated. The other end of the chamber is open and forms the exit path for the accelerated ions. Outside the chamber, beyond the exit for the ion stream, is an external cathode. As the electrons emitted by the cathode move towards the anode under the inuence of the applied electric eld, the radial magnetic eld results in a force acting on them in a direction perpendicular to the plane containing the two elds, which causes them to drift in an azimuthal direction. This azimuthal drift results in a Hall current and impedes the progress of the electrons towards the anode. Due to the lack of axial electron mobility, the plasma can sustain a very high electric eld along the axis of the discharge chamber. The trapped electrons form a virtual cathode held at very nearly the same potential as the external real cathode. Propellant atoms are introduced through holes in the annular anode. These atoms are ionized by collisions with the azimuthally drifting electrons soon after entering the discharge. The propellant ions are then accelerated by the axial electric eld, generating thrust that is transmitted to the structure of the thruster by the interaction between the Hall current and the magnets creating the radial eld. As the accelerated propellant ions exit the discharge chamber, additional electrons from the external cathode are used to neutralize them. The neutralization of the exiting ion stream is necessary to prevent the spacecraft from acquiring a charge,

Fig. 1: Hall thruster.

Fig. 2: Cross section of a Hall thruster. which might result in equipment malfunction or even damage, if the charge were allowed to build to the point where discharges occurred. The proper operation of a Hall thruster is dependent on the strength and axial prole of the magnetic and the relation of these parameters to the geometry of the discharge chamber. The magnetic eld strength must be such that the electrons are trapped in the chamber, unable to move directly to the anode and cause a short circuit, while propellant ions are able to escape. This is achieved by arranging for the length of the discharge region to be greater than the gyroradius of the electrons but much less than the gyroradius of the ions. In order to achieve stable ion ow, the strength of the radial magnetic eld should increase with increasing axial distance from the anode. The magnetic eld maximum denes the end of the ion acceleration zone and needs to be located within the acceleration chamber [1, 2]. An illustration of the geometry of the Hall thruster can be seen in Figs. 1 and 2.

2. Types of Hall thrusters

Hall / closed drift thrusters are divided into two types, stationary plasma thruster (SPT), also known as magnetic layer thruster and thruster with anode layer (TAL), based both on geometrical and material differences in the discharge channels of the two types, and on the different physical processes that take place within the discharge plasma.

A magnetic layer thruster is characterized by having ceramic walls for the discharge channel and by having the length of the channel, l, long compared with its width, w. Also, the collisions of the electrons with the ceramic wall generate low emission secondary electrons that keep the electron temperature low in the discharge. This results in a more extended and gradual acceleration process, hence the name extended acceleration zone thruster also used for this kind of thrusters. In the anode layer thruster, the walls for the conducting channel are conducting and the length of the channel is short compared with its width. In these thrusters, since there is no mechanism in place to reduce the electron temperature, the result is a sharp increase in plasma potential as the anode is approached, in such a way that much of the ion production and acceleration takes place near the anode, hence the name thruster with anode layer.

3. Physics of Hall thrusters

The following discussion is adapted from reference [3]. A simplied model of a Hall thruster consists of a plasma region of axial length L and radial depth w. There is a uniform radial magnetic eld B such that it is zero outside of this region. The ions and neutrals are characterized by mean values of their respective densities and velocities ni , vi , n0 , v0 . There is also a mean electric eld E. The ion current, velocity and electric eld are all in the axial zdirection and are circumferentially uniform. As with the magnetic eld, the electric eld is assumed to be negligible outside of this region, such that we can assume E = Vd /L, with Vd being the discharge voltage. Also, the radial depth w is assumed to be small compared with the mean radius of the thruster. This region is known as acceleration region or closed drift region. In the closed drift region, the magnetic eld must be such that e e >> 1, i i << 1, (1) (2)

where e,i are the electron and ion cyclotron frequencies and e,i are the mean time between collisions. The plasma is accelerated by the Lorentz force j Br . The Hall electron current density is in agrement with the electron density and the drift velocity in crossed electric and magnetic elds. The ion azimuthal velocity is signicantly less than the E Bdrift velocity, e.g |vi | << |E/B| . The length of the closed drift region is signicantly less than the ion cyclotron radius, L << ric = mi vi /eB. (4) (3)

Since the existence of an electron azimuthal drift is necessary for the operation of the thruster, the length of the closed drift region must be larger than the electron cyclotron radius rec , L > rec = These conditions can be stated as rec < L << ric . In the plasma discharge, a thermalized potential can be dened as Vth = Vp (kTe /e) ln(ne /ne0 ), (7) (6) (2eVd /me )1/2 . e (5)

where Vp is the plasma potential, ne0 is the electron density at the reference plasma potential Vp0 . The electron conduction is small and mostly normal to the magnetic eld lines, such that the thermalized potential is constant along a magnetic eld line. The most important part of the magnetic eld is between the anode and the axial location near the magnetic poles where the maximum of the magnetic eld is reached. The magnetic eld between the anode and the maximum should have a nearly radial direction at the mean diameter of the discharge chamber, which is consistent with accelerating the ions in a nearly axial direction and minimizing their impingement on the inner and outer walls of the discharge channel. Another additional feature that is desirable for the magnetic eld is its continuous increase from the anode to the maximum near the exhaust plane. Assuming that the electrons have an E B drift velocity, the Hall current per unit radius can be dened as L JH ene (E/B)dz ene Vd /B. (8)
0

Assuming quasineutrality, we can write ji ene vi , such that JH ji Vd /Bvi ji (mi V d/2e)1/2 /B.
1/2

(9)

(10) /B. If both JH and ji are

In this way, then, in a quasineutral plasma, the Hall current changes as ji Vd 1/2 assumed to be constant, then the magnetic eld B should vary as Vd .

The maximum density of the momentum gained by the ions after transiting the closed drift region is
2 ji vi Mi /e = (Bmax B 2 )/20 + (pe,max pe ),

(11)

where pe is the electron pressure. The neutral pressure, being smaller than the electron one, can be ignored. Neglecting also the the minimum magnetic eld, we can write this last equation as
2 ji vi Mi /e = Bmax /20 .

(12)

This last equation can be used to estimate the necessary value of the magnetic eld. Also, the ion current density can be very large and is limited only by the magnitude of the magnetic eld. The length of the plasma region can be estimated by assuming the time needed by an electron to pass through the closed drift region from the cathode to the anode. This time is given by eL L/vez L/e Ez L2 /e Vd , (13)

where e = e0 /(e e )2 , e being the the mobility of the electrons perpendicular to the magnetic eld and e0 = e/me e the electron mobility in the absence of magnetic eld and e , the electron collision frequency. The electron depletion from the closed drift region to the anode is balanced by the addition of electrons from the cathode and the appearance of new electrons from ionizing collisions. The electron additions rate from the cathode side is much less than the rate of appearance of new electrons at the typical operating conditions. In this way, the ionization frequency for electrons, ei , must satisfy ei eL 1. Thus the length of the closed drift region can be written as L (e Vd /ei )1/2 . (14)

By putting the expression for the mobility of the electrons, it is seen that the length of the closed drift region is of the order of several electron Larmor radii: L rec (e /ei )1/2 . We can also use the electron generation rate, et , instead of the ionization frequency, such that L rec (e /et )1/2 . (16) (15)

Finally, we will consider some scaling rules in the geometry of the Hall thrusters. It can be assumed that mean diameter of the discharge, dm is much larger than the width of the discharge channel, w. This way, the radial change of the parameters is small. Also, it will be assumed that the discharge potential Vd is constant. It can be said that if the ratios l/w, rec /w, ric /w, e /w, i /w and 0 /w are the same for two congurations of a thruster, then the operation of the thrusters will be similar. If rec /w and ric /w are to be maintained, then Bw = constant, Bl = constant. Similarly, keeping constant the ratios l/w, e /w, i /w and 0 /w, means that ne w = constant, ni w = constant, n0 w = constant. (19) (20) (21) (17) (18)

This means that the electron current per unit of channel circumference is not affected by changing the channel width. The situation is similar for the ion current and the propelant ow. When there is a change in the mean channel diameter, we have Ji /dm = constant, m/dm = constant, where m is the total propellant ow and Ji is the total ion current. In conclusion, the magnetic eld B, must change inversely with l or w and the discharge current and propellant ow must change with the mean channel diameter dm . (22) (23)

References
[1] Dan Goebel and Ira Katz. Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters (JPL Space Science and Technology Series). Wiley, 2008. [2] B.B Kadomtsev et al. (eds.). Reviews of Plasma Physics vol 21. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000. [3] V V Zhurin, H R Kaufman, and R S Robinson. Physics of closed drift thrusters. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, 8(1):R1, 1999.