Ferromagnetic enhanced inductively coupled plasma cathode for thruster ion neutralization

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The measured values are compared with similar studies from the literature as presented in Table 1. The electron extraction cost is defined as the power required for the plasma production and the extraction of 1 A of electron current. The gas utilization factor indicates the average number of times that an atom repeats ionization/recombination while it stays inside the discharge chamber. Diameter: 1.5 m Length: 2.7 m Background pressure: 2×10−5 Torr at 5 sccm argon flow rate Drawings of the built RF plasma cathode devices are shown in Figure 4. Figure 4a shows the cathode with a coil antenna, whereas in Figure 4b, the cathode with an antenna where a novel design of ferrite materials in desired orientations (as shown in Figure 5) is shown.