Robert E. Thomas and Hani Kamhawi

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

George J. Williams, Jr.

Ohio Aerospace Institute, Brook Park, Ohio

High Current Hollow Cathode Plasma Plume

Measurements

NASA/TM—2014-218401

December 2014

IEPC–2013–076
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NASA Langley Research Center

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Robert E. Thomas and Hani Kamhawi

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

George J. Williams, Jr.

Ohio Aerospace Institute, Brook Park, Ohio

High Current Hollow Cathode Plasma Plume

Measurements

NASA/TM—2014-218401

December 2014

IEPC–2013–076

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Prepared for the

33rd International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC2013)

sponsored by the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society

Washington, D.C., October 6–10, 2013
Acknowledgments

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testing of the high current cathode assemblies. The authors also thank Rohit Shastry and Wensheng Huang for their contributions

in setting up the plasma diagnostics.

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subject to revision as analysis proceeds.
High Current Hollow Cathode Plasma Plume

Measurements

Robert E. Thomas and Hani Kamhawi

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

George J. Williams, Jr.

Ohio Aerospace Institute

Brook Park, Ohio 44142

Plasma plume measurements are reported for a hollow cathode assembly (HCA) operated at discharge currents of 50, 70, and 100 A at xenon flow rates between 19 - 46 sccm.

The HCA was centrally mounted in the NASA-300MS Hall Thruster and was operated

in the “spot” and “plume” modes with additional data taken with an applied magnetic

field. Langmuir probes, retarding potential analyzers, and optical emission spectroscopy

were employed to measure plasma properties near the orifice of the HCA and to assess

the charge state of the near-field plasma. Electron temperatures (2-6 eV) and plasma potentials are consistent with probe-measured values in previous investigations. Operation

with an applied-field yields higher discharge voltages, increased Xe III production, and

increased signals from the 833.5 nm C I line. While operating in plume mode and with an

applied field, ion energy distribution measurements yield ions with energies significantly

exceeding the applied discharge voltage. These findings are correlated with high-frequency

oscillations associated with each mode.

Nomenclature

B = magnetic field strength, T q = ion charge, C

Bo = magnetic field at thruster full power, T r = radial position from centerline, m

c = speed of light, m/s T = transition intensity

E = energy, J Te = electron temperature, K

h = Planck’s constant, J-s V = voltage, V

I = current, A z = axial distance from keeper face, m

I(λ) = wavelength intensity at frequency λ α = doubly charged ion fraction

k = Boltzmann constant, J/K λ = wavelength, m

ke = electron collision excitation rate, m3 s−1 ν = frequency, Hz

kq

ion = collision excitation rate with ions of charge q, m3 s−1 σe = electron cross section, m2

M = ion mass, kg σion = ion cross section, m2

me = electron mass, kg Subscripts

n0 = neutral particle number density, m−3 D = discharge

ne = electron number density, m−3 K = keeper

NASA/TM—2014-218401
I. Introduction

NASA is currently pursuing high-power electric propulsion systems that can reduce launch vehicle size

and enable the transportation of large payloads. A number of high-power NASA Glenn Research Center

(GRC) Hall thrusters have been designed and tested, which include the NASA-300M, NASA-300MS and the

NASA-457Mv2.1–3 Missions utlizing these thrusters will require high-current (50 - 100 A), long lifetime (>

30 khr) hollow cathodes assemblies (HCAs). This paper describes current work at GRC to develop HCAs

capable of meeting these requirements, with an emphasis on characterizing the near-field plasma plume

region. Of particular interest are the presence of high-energy ions, which have been correlated to excessive

erosion of the cathode keeper plate.4–8 The extended life test of the NSTAR ion engine, which ran for 30,352

hours, illustrates the magnitude of this problem. While the thruster was still operational at the end of the

test, the keeper face plate had completely eroded and the cathode assembly was nearing the end of life.9

The current study presents ion energy distributions, emission spectra, and high-frequency oscillation data

for a GRC-developed HCA over a range of operating conditions. The performance of three GRC-developed

HCAs has recently been documented.10 Two configurations (designated Config. 1 and 2) utilized a novel

emitter design and are shown in Fig. 1. The Config. 2 assembly had a slightly larger orifice plate diameter

and shorter emitter length than Config. 1. The third HCA was largely identical to the NEXT ion engine

discharge cathode. The Config. 2 HCA operated at lower temperatures (which is correlated to longer emitter

lifetime), therefore all data presented in this report utilizes the Config 2 HCA.

Figure 1: NASA GRC-developed high-current cathode assemblies.

The current investigation utilizes an experimental set-up similar to the one described in Ref. [10], with

two notable changes. To decrease sputter erosion, the keeper material has been changed from molybdenum

to graphite. Additionally, the HCA is now centrally mounted in the NASA-300MS Hall thruster. The

NASA-300MS utilizes a magnetic field configuration designed to significantly limit discharge channel wall

erosion, which is the life-limiting mechanism for traditional Hall thrusters. The magnetic shielding concept

is described in Ref. [11]. Performance data and a detailed overview of the NASA-300MS is presented in Ref.

[3]. Far-field plume measurements and interior probe data of the thruster are presented in Refs. [12] and

[13], respectively.

The present study presents preliminary data on the Config. 2 HCA with and without an applied magnetic

field. The following section describes the experimental apparatus. Baseline data is then presented with and

without an applied magnetic field. The objectives of the work are to:

• assess HCA operation and determine the plasma properties in the near-field plume region in a representative Hall-thruster set-up;

• measure the ion energy distribution and correlate it with specific operating conditions; and

NASA/TM—2014-218401
• implement optical emission spectroscopy (OES) interrogation techniques14–17 to determine xenon

plasma properties and relative keeper erosion.

II. Apparatus

A. Facility

Testing was conducted in Vacuum Facility 7 at NASA GRC. The facility is 3 m in diameter with a length

of 5.5 m. It is equipped with five 0.9 m diameter oil diffusion pumps with a base pressure of 3.3 ×10−5

Pa (2.5 ×10−7 torr). The pressure during operation was monitored using a hot-cathode ionization gauge

mounted near the HCA and the pressure during operation did not exceed 1.9 ×10−3 Pa (1.4 ×10−5 torr,

corrected for Xe). A commercial mass flow controller was used to provide high-purity xenon to the HCA.

Commerical power supplies were used to control the heaters, keeper, magnetic field, and anode.

B. Hollow Cathode Assembly Configuration

As noted earlier, the electrically floating HCA was centrally mounted in the NASA-300MS Hall thruster.

This was done to generate the magnetic field countours the HCA experiences during nominal Hall thruster

operation. A 20 cm diameter molybdenum cylindrical anode was placed 20 cm downstream of the HCA; this

configuration was consistent with prior testing.10

C. Diagnostics

The experimental set up showing the centrally mounted HCA, anode, and plasma diagnostics is shown

in Fig. 2. Differential probes were used to measured the discharge voltage and the keeper voltage. A Hall

probe was used to measure the discharge current. The signals from the probes were recorded using a 100

Mhz oscilloscope. A description of the electrostatic and optical probes is in the following subsections.

Figure 2: Photograph of HCA experimental set-up.

1. Electrostatic Probes

Two retarding potential analyzers (RPAs) were used to ascertain the ion energy distribution. The RPAs

utilize a four-grid design that equally biases the electron suppression and repelling grids with respect to

NASA/TM—2014-218401
facility ground while the ion retarding grid is swept. The two probes were located at fixed positions from the

HCA. The on-axis RPA was located 40 cm from the keeper face (z = 40 cm), while the radially postioned

RPA was located 10 cm from the center-line (r = 10 cm, z = 1.5 cm). A mechanical shutter shielded the

probes when data was not being collected. A single Langmuir probe was mounted onto a 2 axis ball-screw

driven motion table system, and was physically swept to obtain radial profiles of the electron temperature

and plasma potential. The Langmuir probe has a length of 2.5 mm and a diameter of 0.25 mm. The probe

circuitry is described in Ref. [18] and the data was analyzed using standard probe theory.19 Raw traces from

the RPA and Langmuir probe are shown in Fig. 3.

0 25 50 75 100 125 150

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

Probe Current, μA

RPA Bias Voltage

(a)

-10 0 10 20 30 40

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Probe Current, mA

Langmuir Probe Bias Voltage, V

(b)

Figure 3: Raw signals of the (a) radially-positioned RPA probe and (b) Langmuir probe (r = 10 cm) at a

discharge current of 100 A and flow rate of 46 sccm.

2. Optical Probe Description

Optical probes were used to ascertain xenon plasma properties and to investigate graphite keeper erosion.

The probes were constructed using 2.5 cm diameter ultraviolet (UV)-silica lenses and flat protective silica

windows, optical tubes, and fiber optic connections. Lenses matched the acceptance angle of the 400 μm

diameter fiber optic cables and allowed adjustment of the focal point. Single-fiber, metal jacketed fiber optic

cables coupled the probes through vacuum feedthroughs to digital spectrometers and photodiodes located

external to the vacuum chamber. As seen in Fig. 2, the probes were mounted outside of the radius of the

cylindrical anode, roughly 40 cm radially from the centerline of the HCA.

One of the limitations of OES is that light is collected from the entirety of the collection volume downstream of the probe. The probes were focused into collection volumes a few millimeters thick. Because the

probes will integrate the signal through the plasma, a tighter focus was not warranted. Three probes interrogated the plasma at the orifice of the keeper, integrating the signal over the bulk of the plasma volume.

One of these was connected to a high-speed photodiode which enabled correlation of optical oscillations to

current and voltage oscillations. The other two fed UV and infrared (IR) digital spectrometers enabling

simultaneous measurement of both spectral ranges. Ultraviolet data were used to correlate xenon charge

states. Infrared data were used to calculate electron temperatures using the emission cross sections supplied

by Chiu.20

The probes were calibrated before and during testing. A standard Xe lamp was placed at the same

distance as the location of measurement in the cathode for each probe and spectral data were recorded

using the entirety of the probe-fiber system. This measured the transmission function of the different probe

assemblies which was used in the reduction of the data. Calibrations were performed during a test sequence

by recording spectra at repeated thruster operating conditions. No significant changes in line intensities

were noted.

NASA/TM—2014-218401
3. Optical Probe Theory and Modeling

A simple collisional radiative model has been exercised to correlate the xenon spectra to plasma properties.

It assumes all excitation occurs through collisions and all emission is governed by natural relaxation. Because

there are several metastable states within the xenon spectra, a corona model cannot be applied reasonably

without relatively high electron temperatures (i.e. Te > 40 eV). Additionally, collisional-radiative models

require knowledge of the rate coefficients associated with these transitions over a large number of possible

transitions. In general for xenon these are not known. Recent studies have experimentally determined

the rate coefficients associated with Xe I and Xe II for a few transitions in the near infrared and in the

visible spectrum. In particular, Chiu20 has developed effective excitation cross-sections that experimentally

convolve the possible transitions enabling a relatively simple set of equations for the collision excitation rates

ke =

∞

0

2E



2

π(kTe)3me

exp  E

kTe



σe(E) dE (1)

kq

ion ≈ σion(eV )

2qVD

M (2)

where E in Eqn. (1) is the energy of the electron undergoing collision and VD in Eqn. (2) is the discharge

voltage and M is the mass of a xenon atom. Equation 1 is numerically integrated using tabulated values for

σe(E). Assuming quasi-neutrality, the intensity of a particular transition is then

I(λ) = hc

4πλn0ne



ke + (1 − α)k1

ion +

α

√2

k2

ion

(3)

where α is the ratio of singly charged ion densities. While it is imperative to include the heavy particle

collision excitation terms in the high-density, low Te region of interest, there is negligible sensitivity to α

since the excitation of the Xe I levels is similar regardless of the heavy particle collision. In some respects

this is unfortunate since it precludes estimating α via Te parameterization. The ratio of two lines is

I1

I2

=



ke + (1 − α)k1

ion + √α

2 k2

ion

1



ke + (1 − α)k1

ion + √α

2 k2

ion

2

λ2

λ1

(4)

which can be used to calculate the electron temperature given I1 and I2.

III. Results and Discussion

Prior to testing, the cathode was conditioned by applying current to the heaters to remove impurities.

Cathode ignition was performed by powering the heater elements for a prescribed period of time, applying

xenon flow, then applying a high voltage across the keeper and cathode. Once ignited, the heaters were

turned off and a constant keeper current of 1 A was maintained at all operating conditions.

Results are presented for cathode operation in both the “spot” and “plume” mode. Visually, spot mode

operation is typically characterized by a bright, high-density plasma at the keeper/cathode orifice while

plume mode consists of a widely divergent plasma. For the purposes of this work, spot mode was defined

as quiescent operation with low-amplitude oscillations in the discharge current and voltage (as illustrated in

Section III). Plume mode is characterized by a marked increase in the discharge voltage and accompanied by

high-frequency oscillations with an amplitude orders of magnitude times higher than spot mode operation.

Plume mode operation has been shown to yield high-energy ions and higher insert temperatures, both of

which are life-reducing. Hysteresis effects influenced the mode of the HCA. As such, data at the flow rate of

46 sccm and a discharge current of 50 A are presented in both plume and spot mode.

Several investigations have characterized the plasma oscillations associated with hollow cathodes operating in diode (keeper only) mode, triode (keeper and anode) mode, and with Hall effect thrusters. In the

context of the latter, cathode oscillations are sometimes relegated to be high-frequency (∼ MHz), low amplitude oscillations which are imposed on the lower-frequency (10s to 100s of kHz) large amplitude oscillations

of the discharge plasma. Both ion thruster discharge cathodes and cathodes used with Hall thrusters operate

under conditions that may not be described as either spot or plume mode. The plasma is characterized by

NASA/TM—2014-218401
a well-formed, extended region of high-density plasma and modest oscillations (several percent of applied

voltages or currents) at 10s of kH. Therefore, additional anode configurations should be tested to establish

the sensitivity of the plasma structure to the current approximation (i.e. cylindrical molybdenum anode) of a

Hall thruster plasma/electron coupling environment. Further work is necessary to see if the cathode to beam

coupling can be approximated in a more reasonable fashion than was implemented in this investigation.

A. Baseline Operation

The HCA was operated at discharge currents of 50, 70, and 100 A and flow rates of 19, 28, 37, and 46

sccm. These operating conditions were chosen to be consistent with nominal Hall thruster operating conditions and prior HCA testing.10 Operation with the applied magnetic field is presented in the next section.

The discharge voltage and cathode-to-ground voltage are plotted as a function of mass flow rate in Fig. 4.

The decrease in discharge voltage as the flow rate is increased is characteristic of hollow cathode operation

and was expected.21–23 The cathode-to-ground potential, which is related to the ease in which electrons

flow from cathode to anode, decreases with increasing flow rate. This trend is consistent with prior cathode

experiments.10, 24, 25

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

 50 A

 70 A

 100 A

Discharge Voltage, V

Flow Rate, sccm

(a)

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

 50 A

 70 A

 100 A

Cathode to Ground Voltage, V

Flow Rate, sccm

(b)

Figure 4: (a) Discharge voltage and (b) cathode to ground voltage as a function of xenon flow rate.

A photograph of the HCA operating in plume mode is shown in Fig. 5. As the flow rate is increased

the plasma transitions into a collimated jet and eventually transitions to spot mode, which is characterized

by a sharp decrease in discharge voltage and reduced plasma oscillations. Radial Langmuir probe sweeps

for the ID = 50 A case in both spot mode (46 sccm) and plume mode (19 sccm) are shown in Fig. 6.

The probe is located 4 cm axially from the face of the keeper, and the r = 0 position is defined as the

centerline. The same data for ID = 100 A are shown in Fig. 7 and are largely the same. In both cases,

plume mode operation yielded constant electron temperatures that were roughly 2-3× higher than spot mode

operation. The plasma potential (measured with respect to ground) at the edge of the anode (r = 10 cm)

was roughly at the discharge potential and slowly decreased as the probe was moved towards the centerline.

Prior experimenters4 have found a steep decrease in plasma potential within a centimeter of the centerline.

Unfortunately, data within this region (in plume mode) could not be resolved as the data was too noisy

for accurate analysis. The larger error bars in the plume mode data are associated with the high frequency

oscillations present in the obtained probe data.

NASA/TM—2014-218401
 

	
 

Figure 5: Plume mode operation at various flow rates at a discharge current of 50 A.

0 2 4 6 8 10

0

2

4

6

8

 19 sccm (plume mode)

 46 sccm (spot mode)

Electron Temperature, eV

Radial Distance, cm

(a)

0 2 4 6 8 10

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

19 sccm (plume mode)

 46 sccm (spot mode)

Plasma Potential, V

Radial Distance, cm

(b)

Figure 6: Langmuir probe scans of the (a) electron temperature and (b) plasma potential at a discharge

current of 50 A.

Figure 8 shows the frequency characteristics of the HCA operating at 50 A, and 46 sccm. The discharge

current, voltage, and keeper voltage all have oscillations at 50 kHz with peak-to-peak values of 1 A, 1 V,

and 0.2 V respectively. Similar characteristics are present for spot mode operation at 70 A and 100 A.

NASA/TM—2014-218401
0 2 4 6 8 10

0

2

4

6

8

 19 sccm (plume mode)

 46 sccm (spot mode)

Electron Temperature, eV

Radial Distance, cm

(a)

0 2 4 6 8 10

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

19 sccm (plume mode)

 46 sccm (spot mode)

Plasma Potential, V

Radial Distance, cm

(b)

Figure 7: Langmuir probe scans of the (a) electron temperature and (b) plasma potential at a discharge

current of 100 A.

Figure 8: Frequency characterization of the HCA at 50 A, 46 sccm (during spot mode operation). Note the

low amplitude and high-frequencies of the oscillations.

Plume mode operation is typically characterized by relatively high-amplitude oscillations on the order

of the discharge current and voltage. Figure 9 shows the frequency characteristics of the HCA operating at

50 A and 19 sccm without an applied magnetic field. The discharge current, voltage, and keeper voltage

all have oscillations at 20 to 40 kHz with peak-to-peak values of 10 A, 25 V, and 8 V, respectively. These

oscillations are consistent with plume mode operation. The discharge current also has a strong oscillation

at 1 kHz with a peak-to-peak value of 20 A. This low-frequency oscillation is likely a power supply related

mode. This ambiguity can be eliminated with a low-frequency filter such as those used to protect the power

supply during ground testing of high-power HETs. The keeper voltage has an oscillation around 150 kHz

not present in the anode voltage or discharge current with a peak-to-peak value of 2 V. This additional mode

is seen only in VK oscillations (not in ID nor VD) in plume mode without an applied magnetic field.

The electron temperature was calculated from 823 nm and 828 nm emission at the orifice of the keeper

using Eqn. 4. The calculated temperature is insensitive to the initial guess of α (0 <α< 1). The near

infrared lines are relatively free from contributions of Xe II emission. Figure 10 shows Te as a function of

mass flow rate for three discharge currents. While the uncertainty in the emission strengths is < 1%, there

is at least 20% uncertainty in the fit of Eqn. 4 to Te. In addition, Karabadzhak16 has shown a factor of 2

impact of metastable populations. However, these have greater impact for 5 eV < Te < 20 eV. For the low

NASA/TM—2014-218401
Figure 9: Frequency characterization of the HCA at 50 A and 19 sccm (plume mode). Note the presence of

oscillations between 20 and 40 kHz.

Te of this investigation, the impact of the heavy particle excitation (kq

ion) is more significant than that of

the metastable populations. In this light, the trend is within the uncertainty of the measurement, and the

electron temperature appears roughly constant over the range of operating conditions at 2.3 eV. This result

is consistent with Langmuir probe measurements of Te in the near field of lower-power cathodes which have

shown that Te for plume mode operation increases with distance away from the orifice but is roughly the

same as spot mode at the orifice.26, 27

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

 50 A

 70 A

 100 A

Electron Temperature, eV

Flow Rate, sccm

Figure 10: Electron temperature from OES at the keeper orifice as a function of mass flow rate.

Since the electron temperature is roughly constant under all operating conditions at the point of optical

interrogation, the changes in emission intensity of the singly and doubly charged ions yields a qualitative

measure of relative densities. Because collisional excitation coefficients (kq

ion) of these lines are unknown, it

is still inappropriate to use the ratios to accurately estimate the charge state ratio, α. However, the ratio

of emission intensities of doubly to singly charged ions should still yield a good qualitative measure of the

degree of doubly charged ion production at the keeper orifice assuming Te ≈ constant. Figure 11 shows the

ratio IXe III, 278 nm to IXe II, 286 nm as a function of mass flow rate for three discharge currents. There

are significantly higher fractions of Xe III at the lower flow rates, especially for ID = 50 A and 70 A. These

conditions are clearly in plume mode based on the observed oscillations described above. The variation in

values at 46 sccm give a sense of the point-to-point uncertainty in these ratios. Larger uncertainty exists at

NASA/TM—2014-218401
the lowest flow rate.

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

0

1

2

3

4

 50 A

 70 A

 100 A

IXeIII, 278 nm / IXeII, 286 cm

Flow Rate, sccm

Figure 11: IXe III, 278 nm to IXe II, 286 nm as a function of mass flow rate. The ratio provides an indication

of the relative concentrations of Xe III and Xe II since Te ≈ constant.

Figure 12 shows the variation in the self-normalized IC II, 299 nm signal measured at the keeper orifice

as a function of flow rate for the three discharge currents. Note that there is negligible signal for both the

50 A and 70 A conditions above 30 sccm and that the value is non-zero for all 100 A conditions. However,

as expected, the signal is the highest at lowest flow rates, which are associated with plume mode. Without

a reasonably good model for the excitation of the C II state, it is not possible to quantitatively correlate the

signal strength with the amount of carbon being eroded from the surface. However, as with Xe II and Xe III,

a constant Te removes a large source of the uncertainty and allows for some correlation. The C I emission

was not observed at any of the operating conditions without a magnetic field. Perhaps this is because the

carbon atoms are being quickly ionized as VD is well above the ionization potential of 12 eV.

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

 50 A

 70 A

 100 A

ICII, 299 nm / Imax

Flow Rate, sccm

Figure 12: Self-normalized IC II, 299 nm signal measured at the keeper orifice as a function of flow rate.

Ion energy distributions measured with the axial RPA are shown in Fig. 13 for a discharge currents of

50 and 100 A at a flow rate of 46 sccm with the HCA operating in spot mode. The RPA bias voltage is

corrected by subtracting off the local plasma potential; this is done because the RPA bias voltage was swept

with respect to facility ground. The peak energies are within a few volts of the discharge voltage, and the

energy distribution is relatively narrow. The radially positioned RPA yielded unphysical results during spot

mode operation; this is likely due to a lack of directed ions reaching the probe. Decreasing the flow rate to

19 sccm yielded the transition to plume mode, which was accompanied by much wider ion distributions, as

NASA/TM—2014-218401
shown in Figs. 14 - 16. Similar results have been reported by Goebel et al.,5 who postulated that a plasma

structure is established which couples with the oscillations to yield the high energy ion distributions. The

variation in the ion energy in the radial direction from 70 A to 100 A may occur because the ionization

region is moving, perhaps simply extending, downstream.

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

VD

(a)

0 25 50 75 100 125 150

0

5

10

15

20

25

VD

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

(b)

Figure 13: Ion energy distribtion for the cathode operating at (a) 50 A and (b) 100 A at a flow rate of 46

sccm utilizing the axially positioned RPA. The vertical lines denote the discharge voltage.

0 25 50 75 100 125 150

0.0

0.5

1.0

Axial RPA

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

Radial RPA

Figure 14: Ion energy distribution for 50 A and 19 sccm (plume mode).

NASA/TM—2014-218401
0 25 50 75 100 125 150

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

Axial RPA

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

Radial RPA

Figure 15: Ion energy distribution for 70 A and 19 sccm (plume mode).

0 25 50 75 100 125 150

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

Radial RPA

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

Axial RPA

Figure 16: Ion energy distribution for 100 A and 19 sccm (plume mode).

B. Applied Magnetic Field Operation

Data was obtained at 5 different magnetic field strengths. The data are normalized by a magnetic field

strength Bo characteristic of thruster operation at full power. There was a pronounced difference in HCA

operation when the magnetic field was applied. A photograph of the HCA operating at 100 A with and

without the magnetic field is shown in Fig. 17. The plume emanating from the HCA forms a jet-like structure

as the electrons follow the applied field, which is primarily axial along the centerline.

The discharge voltage and cathode-to-ground voltage are plotted as a function of magnetic field strength

for a mass flow rate of 46 sccm (spot mode) in Fig. 18. The discharge voltage increases monotonically with

the magnetic field strength. This is likely due to the increased power necessary to complete the circuit,

as the current can only be collected at the anode if the electrons diffuse across the primarily axial B-field.

Unfortunately, the Langmuir probe data with an applied magnetic field configuration could not be accurately

analyzed due to excessive oscillations in the collected probe signals. Additionally, limited data was obtained

at lower flow rates as the discharge voltage exceeded the output capability of the discharge power supply.

Figure 19 shows the variation in Te, as measured by OES at the keeper orifice as a function of normalized

applied magnetic field strength. There is no difference in Te with flow rate or ID for Bo > 0. The electron

temperature increases slightly as the field strength is increased and then becomes constant. This increase

exceeds the measurement uncertainty (20%) and potentially results from the constrained flow of the electrons

as evidenced by the low-frequency oscillations present with applied fields.

NASA/TM—2014-218401
Figure 17: Cathode operating in spot mode (left) and with applied magnetic field (100 A, 46 sccm, B = Bo).

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

 50 A

 100 A

Discharge Voltage, V

Normalized Magnetic Field

(a)

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

 50 A

 100 A

Cathode to Ground Voltage, V

Normalized Magnetic Field

(b)

Figure 18: (a) Discharge voltage and (b) cathode to ground voltage as a function magnetic field strength for

a flow rate of 46 sccm at discharge currents of 50 A and 100 A.

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

 50 A, 46 sccm

 50 A, 37 sccm

 100 A, 46 sccm

Electron Temperature, eV

Normalized Magnetic Field

Figure 19: Electron temperature obtained from from OES at the keeper orifice as a function of normalized

applied magnetic field strength for three cathode operating conditions.

NASA/TM—2014-218401
Figure 20 shows the ratio of IXe III, 278 nm to IXe II, 286 nm as a function of normalized applied

magnetic field for three operating conditions. The difference in trend between the 50 A and the 100 A cases

extends slightly above the uncertainty in the measurement. Despite nearly an identical Te, VD and oscillatory

behavior, the formation of Xe III ions appears to increase significantly for the 100 A case with respect to

the 50 A cases. This trend may suggest that there are fundamentally different phenomena associated with

the large scale, low-frequency oscillations during applied magnetic fields and the oscillations typical of plume

mode operation. The increase in the intensity ratios for both 50 and 100 A operation likely results from

a combination of increasing Te and ne and therefore may or may not reflect changes in Xe II and Xe III

densities. However, above Bo = 0.4, the electron temperature is constant suggesting changes are related to

densities.

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4 50 A, 46 sccm

 50 A, 37 sccm

 100 A, 46 sccm

IXeIII, 278 nm / IXeII, 286 nm

Normalized Magnetic Field

Figure 20: IXe III, 278 nm to IXe II, 286 nm as a function of normalized applied magnetic field for three

operating conditions

Figure 21 shows the self-normalized IC I 833 nm and IC II, 299 nm signal strengths as a function of

normalized applied magnetic field for the 100 A operating condition. With an applied magnetic field, the C I

line at 833.5 nm becomes significant. At 50 A, the signal-to-noise ratio is low except at the highest B-fields.

This suggests that Xe III may be responsible for most of the carbon erosion which is consistent with the

large sputter threshold of Xe II on carbon.

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

 CI

 CII

Normalized Signal Strength

Normalized Magnetic Field

Figure 21: Self-normalized IC I 833 nm and IC II, 299 nm signal strengths as a function of normalized

applied magnetic field for the 100 A operating condition.

Figure 22 shows the frequency characteristics of the HCA operating at 50 A and 37 sccm with an applied

NASA/TM—2014-218401
magnetic field of 0.6Bo. The discharge and keeper voltages all have oscillations between 20 to 40 kHz with

peak-to-peak values of 20 V, and 2 V respectively. Both are consistent with plume mode operation even

though the flow yielded spot mode characteristics without the applied magnetic field. Most notable, however,

are the absence of ID peaks at these frequencies and a very large 70 A peak-to-peak oscillation at 1 kHz. The

keeper voltage also has an oscillation at 1 kHz with a peak-to-peak value of 1 V. The very large oscillation

of ID at 1 kHz and modest VD and VK oscillations around 30 kHz are present for all applied-field operating

conditions regardless of mass flow rate. At lower applied fields and at higher flow rates, the magnitudes of

all of the oscillations decrease, but the ID oscillation never decreases below 0.5 ID in peak-to-peak value.

Figure 22: Frequency characterization of the HCA at 50 A, 37 sccm, and 0.6Bo. Note the large oscillation

at 1 kHz and the absence of oscillations at higher frequencies for ID.

To measure the luminosity of the plasma, an optical probe focused just downstream of the keeper orifice

focused light on a high-speed photodiode. The output of the diode had identical frequency characteristics to

ID when the magnetic field was applied: large oscillations at 1 kH, suggesting the plasma was extinguishing

at the cathode.

The ion energy distribution for an applied field of 0.2Bo and 0.4Bo at a discharge current of 50 A is shown

in Fig. 23. In both cases the on-axis RPA detects a narrower range of ion energies, with the radial probe

detecting ions several factors higher than the discharge voltage. Identical trends have been reported with

HCAs in the presence of magnetic field.4–6 Goebel et al. postulated that turbulent acoustic fluctuations and

ionization instabilities are responsible for the creation of the high-energy ions.

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175

0

1

2

Axial RPA

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

Radial RPA

VD

(a)

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175

0

2

4

6

8

10

Axial RPA

-dI/dV, Arb. Units

RPA Bias Voltage, V

Radial RPA

VD

(b)

Figure 23: Ion energy distribution for a discharge current of 50 A with an applied magnetic field strength of

(a) 0.2Bo and (b) 0.4Bo.

NASA/TM—2014-218401
IV. Conclusions

Plasma plume measurements have been reported for a hollow cathode assembly operated at discharge

currents of 50-100 A at flow rates between 19 and 46 sccm. The HCA is centrally mounted in NASA-300MS

Hall Thruster, which utilizes a magnetic field configuration designed to significantly limit discharge channel

wall erosion. Ion energy distributions, emission spectra, and high-frequency oscillations have been reported

for operation with and without an applied magnetic field. Spot mode operation was characterized by lowamplitude oscillations, an electron temperature of 2 eV near the keeper orifice plate, and relatively narrow

ion energy distributions centered around the discharge voltage. Decreasing the flow rate yielded plume mode

operation, which was characterized by high-frequency, large-amplitude oscillations and electron temperatures

on the order of 5-6 eV away from the keeper orifice (but still on the order of 2.3 eV at the orifice). When the

magnetic field was applied, the HCA transitioned from spot mode to an intense beam mode with plume-like

oscillations in the discharge and keeper voltages and large, 1 kHz oscillations in the discharge current.

Retarding potential analyzers placed both on-axis and 90 degrees off axis yielded ion energies significantly

in excess of the discharge voltage. Plume mode operation yielded broad distributions of ion energies in both

the axial and radial directions, consistent with previous investigations. Operating in nominally spot-mode

conditions with an applied field yielded relatively narrow ion energy distributions on-axis. This, too, is

consistent with recent investigations. Decreases in the collector current and spread of the high-energy ions as

the magnetic field was increased for a given operating condition suggests that the plasma structure generating

the ions is changing. Detailed, time sensitive measurement of the ion energies and plasma conditions will be

required to further resolve the structures.

Optical emission spectra were collected to measure electron temperature, relative xenon charge states,

and the relative amount of carbon sputtered from the keeper. The electron temperature was shown to be

constant in the very near-field of the keeper orifice and this allowed qualitative assessment of the charge states

and sputtered carbon. Application of an applied magnetic field increased both the amount of Xe III in the

orifice region and the amount of C emission. Since the two correlated well with operating condition, the bulk

of the carbon sputtering was likely due to Xe III. Both increased linearly with applied magnetic field for 100

A operation but were constant at 50 A and 70 A operation at the same flow rates. This suggests a significant

increase in keeper erosion for higher current operation if the cathode flow rate is not proportionately higher.

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