An advanced electric propulsion diagnostic (AEPD) platform for in-situ characterization of electric propulsion thrusters and ion beam sources

Experimental characterization is an essential task in development, qualification and optimization process of electric propulsion thrusters or ion beam sources for material processing, because it can verify that the thruster or ion beam source fulfills the requested mission or application requirement...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics, 2016-10, Vol.70 (10), p.1-11, Article 212
Main Authors: Bundesmann, Carsten, Eichhorn, Christoph, Scholze, Frank, Spemann, Daniel, Neumann, Horst, Pagano, Damiano, Scaranzin, Simone, Scortecci, Fabrizio, Leiter, Hans J., Gauter, Sven, Wiese, Ruben, Kersten, Holger, Holste, Kristof, Köhler, Peter, Klar, Peter J., Mazouffre, Stéphane, Blott, Richard, Bulit, Alexandra, Dannenmayer, Käthe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory
Atomic
Diagnostic systems
Electric propulsion
Engineering Sciences
Five axis
Inspection
Ion beams
Molecular
Optical and Plasma Physics
Physical Chemistry
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Information Technology
Quantum Physics
Regular Article
Spectroscopy/Spectrometry
Spintronics
Telemicroscopy
Thermodynamic properties
Thrusters
Topical Issue: Physics of Ion Beam Sources
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Summary:Experimental characterization is an essential task in development, qualification and optimization process of electric propulsion thrusters or ion beam sources for material processing, because it can verify that the thruster or ion beam source fulfills the requested mission or application requirements, and it can provide parameters for thruster and plasma modeling. Moreover, there is a need for standardizing electric propulsion thruster diagnostics in order to make characterization results of different thrusters and also from measurements performed in different vacuum facilities reliable and comparable. Therefore, we have developed an advanced electric propulsion diagnostic (AEPD) platform, which allows a comprehensive in-situ characterization of electric propulsion thrusters (or ion beam sources) and could serve as a standard on-ground tool in the future. The AEPD platform uses a five-axis positioning system and provides the option to use diagnostic tools for beam characterization (Faraday probe, retarding potential analyzer, ExB probe, active thermal probe), for optical inspection (telemicroscope, triangular laser head), and for thermal characterization (pyrometer, thermocamera). Here we describe the capabilities of the diagnostic platform and provide first experimental results of the characterization of a gridded ion thruster RIT- μ X. Graphical abstract
ISSN:1434-6060
1434-6079
DOI:10.1140/epjd/e2016-70236-0