An Experimental Study of Local Magnetic Field Intensity Effects on the Discharge Characterization of Hall Thrusters

This paper investigates the magnetic field intensity effects on the discharge characterization of Hall thrusters for optimization of the magnetic fields. Vary the strength of magnetic fields with its topography holds constant (keep in "focusing" type), and make an experimental study of the thruster's operating performance working in different regions of magneto-ampere curve through Langmuir probe, spectrograph, etc. Detailed examination of the results shows that when the magnitude of magnetic field intensity less than its critical value, near-wall conductivity give priority to the activity that electrons traverse the magnetic field, if not, discharge current varying with magnetic field intensity abnormally, and existing electrons conductive theories are failed to explain this phenomenon.