Growth mechanism and characteristics of electron drift instability in Hall thruster with different propellant types

The existence of a significant electron drift instability(EDI) in the Hall thruster is considered as one of the possible causes of the abnormal increase in axial electron mobility near the outlet of the channel. In recent years, extensive simulation research on the characteristics of EDI has been conducted, but the excitation mechanism and growth mechanism of EDI in linear stage and nonlinear stage remain unclear. In this work, a one-dimensional PIC model in the azimuthal direction of the thruster near-exit region is established to gain further insights into the mechanism of the EDI in detail, and the effects of different types of propellants on EDI characteristics are discussed. The changes in axial electron transport caused by EDI under different types of propellants and electromagnetic field strengths are also examined. The results indicate that EDI undergoes a short linear growth phase before transitioning to the nonlinear phase and finally reaching saturation through the ion Landau damping. The EDI drives a significant ion heating in the azimuthal direction through electron–ion friction before entering the quasi-steady state, which increases the axial mobility of the electrons. Using lighter atomic weight propellant can effectively suppress the oscillation amplitude of EDI, but it will increase the linear growth rate, frequency, and phase velocity of EDI. Compared with the classical mobility, the axial electron mobility under the EDI increases by three orders of magnitude, which is consistent with experimental phenomena. The change of propellant type is insufficient to significantly change the axial electron mobility. It is also found that the collisions between electrons and neutral gasescan significantly affect the axial electron mobility under the influence of EDI, and lead the strength of the electric field to increase and the strength of the magnetic field to decrease, thereby both effectively suppressing the axial transport of electrons.

Preliminary Results of Drift Instability by Fast Optical Images in KT-5D Toroidal Plasma

Drift instability in plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） in KT- 5D device was investigated by using a fast camera and Langmuir probes. The similarity between the distribution of light intensity from the images and the plasma pressure indicates a nearly linear relationship. The discharge images taken by the camera and the plasma parameters measured by the probes also indicate the existence of low frequency turbulent events with a time scale less than a few mini-seconds.

Lower-Hybrid Drift Instability in Modified Harris Current Sheet

Lower-hybrid drift instability （LHDI） in a Harris current sheet including a uniform background distribution is investigated in linear local kinetic theory. It is found that the introduction of a uniform background distribution reduces the growth rate and real frequency of LHDI at all wavelengths. Some physical explanations about the effects of the background distribution are provided.

Regulation of the density distribution of a strongly dissipative plasma by a pulsed magnetic field

A pulsed transverse magnetic field with pulse width of 12 ms and magnitude of 2 T was used to modify the density distribution of a weakly-ionized plasma flow with strong collisions between the charged particles and neutrals.The morphology of the plasma is changed substantially,with the density increased upstream and decreased downstream.Meanwhile,the plasma toward the axis contracts laterally and gradually converges to a collimated flow.In addition,a drift wave is observed to be excited in the inhomogeneous plasma by the magnetic field.

An experimental research on the instability of ion acoustic wave with electron drift

As electron temperature Te is much higher than ion temperature Ti, and electron driftspeed Vd is larger than the critical value Vdc of Vd, the ω=KVφ mode ion acoustic wave（IAW） will be instable. Under a long wave condition （KλD【【1, where λD is Deby length,K is weve number）, the growing rate γ（K） of the IAW may be written

Two-Fluid Formulation of Lower-Hybrid Drift Instabilities in Current-Sheet Equilibrium with a Guide Field

Anonlocal two-fluid formulation has been constructed for describing lowerhybrid drift instabilities in current-sheet configuration with a finite guide magnetic field in the context of magnetic reconnection.As a benchmark and verification,a class of unstable modes with multiple eigenstates are found by numerical solutions with guide field turned off.It is found that the most unstable modes are the electrostatic,short-wavelength perturbations in the lower-hybrid frequency range,with wave functions localized at the edge of the current sheet where the density gradient reaches its maximum.It is also found that there exist electrostatic modes located near the center of the current sheet where the current density is maximum.These modes are lowfrequency,long-wavelength perturbations.Attempts will bemade to compare the current results with those from kinetic theory in the near future since the validity of the fluid theory ultimately needs to be checked with the more fundamental kinetic theory.