Effect of the Discharge Voltage on the Performance of the Hall Thruster

In this paper, a two-dimensional physical model is established according to the discharging process in the Hall thruster discharge channel using the particle-in-cell method. The influences of discharge voltage on the distributions of potential, ion radial flow, and discharge current are investigated in a fixed magnetic field configuration. It is found that, with the increase of discharge voltage, especially during 250-650 V, the ion radial flow and the collision frequency between ions and the wall are decreased, but the discharge current is increased. The electron temperature saturation is observed between 400-450 V and the maximal value decreases during this region. When the discharge voltage reaches 700 V, the potential distribution in the axis direction expands to the anode significantly, the ionization region becomes close to the anode, and the acceleration region grows longer. Besides, ion radial flow and the collision frequency between ions and the wall are also increased when the discharge voltage exceeds 650 V. (paper)