dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDevelopment of supersonic plasma flows by use of a magnetic nozzle and an ICRF heating
| Authors | M. Inutake, A. Ando, K. Hattori, H. Tobari, Y. Hosokawa, R. Sato, M. Hatanaka, K. Harata |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0410205 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0410205 |
Abstract
A high-beta, supersonic plasma flow plays a crucial role in MHD phenomena in space and fusion plasmas. There are a few experimental researches on production and control of a fast flowing plasma in spite of a growing significance in the magnetized-plasma flow dynamics. A magneto-plasma-dynamic arcjet (MPDA) is one of promising devices to produce a supersonic plasma flow and has been utilized as an electric propulsion device with a higher specific impulse and a relatively larger thrust. We have improved the performance of an MPDA to produce a quasi-steady plasma flow with a transonic and supersonic Mach number in a highly-ionized state. There are two methods in order to control an ion-acoustic Mach number of the plasma flow exhausted from an MPDA: one is to use a magnetic Laval nozzle to convert a thermal energy to a flow energy and the other is a combined system of an ion heating and a divergent magnetic nozzle. The former is an analogous method to a compressible air flow and the latter is the method proposed in an advanced thruster for a manned interplanetary space mission. We have clarified the plasma flow characteristics in various shapes of a magnetic field configuration. It was demonstrated that the Mach number of the plasma flow could increase up to almost 3 in a divergent magnetic nozzle field. This paper reports recent results on the flow field improvements: one is on a magnetic-Laval-nozzle effects observed at the muzzle region of the MPDA, and the other is on ICRF (ion-cyclotron-range of frequency) heating of a supersonic plasma by use of a helical antenna.
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"abstract": "A high-beta, supersonic plasma flow plays a crucial role in MHD phenomena in\nspace and fusion plasmas. There are a few experimental researches on production\nand control of a fast flowing plasma in spite of a growing significance in the\nmagnetized-plasma flow dynamics. A magneto-plasma-dynamic arcjet (MPDA) is one\nof promising devices to produce a supersonic plasma flow and has been utilized\nas an electric propulsion device with a higher specific impulse and a\nrelatively larger thrust. We have improved the performance of an MPDA to\nproduce a quasi-steady plasma flow with a transonic and supersonic Mach number\nin a highly-ionized state. There are two methods in order to control an\nion-acoustic Mach number of the plasma flow exhausted from an MPDA: one is to\nuse a magnetic Laval nozzle to convert a thermal energy to a flow energy and\nthe other is a combined system of an ion heating and a divergent magnetic\nnozzle. The former is an analogous method to a compressible air flow and the\nlatter is the method proposed in an advanced thruster for a manned\ninterplanetary space mission. We have clarified the plasma flow characteristics\nin various shapes of a magnetic field configuration. It was demonstrated that\nthe Mach number of the plasma flow could increase up to almost 3 in a divergent\nmagnetic nozzle field. This paper reports recent results on the flow field\nimprovements: one is on a magnetic-Laval-nozzle effects observed at the muzzle\nregion of the MPDA, and the other is on ICRF (ion-cyclotron-range of frequency)\nheating of a supersonic plasma by use of a helical antenna.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0410205",
"authors": [
"M. Inutake",
"A. Ando",
"K. Hattori",
"H. Tobari",
"Y. Hosokawa",
"R. Sato",
"M. Hatanaka",
"K. Harata"
],
"categories": [
"physics.plasm-ph"
],
"title": "Development of supersonic plasma flows by use of a magnetic nozzle and an ICRF heating",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0410205"
},
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