Effect of Oscillating Sheath on Near-Wall Electron Current Profile in Hall Thrusters

The radial profile of the axial electron current in Hall thrusters was measured; however, the significant decay of the current density peak in the near-wall region can't be explained effectively by the steady sheath theory. As the sheath exhibits an oscillating character when the thruster is in operation, its effect on the near-wall current profile has been studied in this paper. To obtain a comprehensive knowledge, we have considered a wide sheath oscillation frequency span which includes two asymptotic frequency cases at high and low ends. Based on the case studied, either an analytical treatment or a numerical simulation is applied. The results show that the current density peak has a fastest damping speed away from the wall at the asymptotic low frequency. With the increase of the frequency, both the decay and the spatial "wavelength" of the current profile decrease. The decay finally disappears at the asymptotic high frequency with a constant spatial "wavelength". Moreover, the sheath oscillation amplitude can enhance the decay and enlarge the spatial "wavelength". Taking into account of the realistic situation in Hall thrusters, the significant impact of the oscillating sheath on the near-wall electron current profiles can be anticipant. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim