霍尔推力器加速通道-空心阴极耦合区物理研究进展

Research status of physics in the coupling area between hall thruster acceleration channel and hollow cathode

摘要:

重点介绍霍尔推力器耦合区物理过程的研究现状.霍尔推力器的耦合区连接阴极与通道内等离子体，控制通道入口电子参数，也通过耦合环境影响阴极自身的电子发射特性.由于耦合区处于推力器外部的负梯度弱磁场区，导致耦合区发生的物理过程十分复杂.分别从种子电子向通道内传导、羽流中和过程、等离子体桥电子的E×B漂移和耦合环境中的阴极放电等方面讨论了耦合区的参数分布和影响因素，总结了耦合区的特点，指出了目前研究的难点与不足，并对后续研究给出了建议.

Abstract:

This article introduced the research status of the physics of coupling zone in Hall thrusters. The coupling zone is the area that links hollow cathode and Hall thruster channel. It determines the electron parameters on the inlet of the channel and the discharge characteristics of the hollow cathode. With negative-gradient weak magnetic field in this area, the local physics are highly complicated. The article chose four different facets to discuss the parameter distribution and influencing factors of this area:the transport of seed electrons towards the anode, the process of ion beam neutralization, the E×B drift of plasma bridge electrons and the hollow cathode discharge in coupling environment. By summarizing the characteristics of this area, the difficulties and shortcomings of current studies were analyzed and suggestions for further studies were given.