Hybrid Model for Plasma Thruster Plume Simulation Including PIC-MCC Electrons Treatment

The simulation of stationary plasma thruster plume is important for spacecraft design due to possible interaction plume with spacecraft surface. Such simulations are successfully performed using the particle-in-cell technique for describing the motion of charged particles, namely the propellant ions. In conventional plume models the electrons are treated using various fluid approaches. In this work, we suggest an alternative approach, where the electron kinetics is considered 'ab initio', using the particle-in-cell--Monte Carlo collision method. To avoid the large computational expenses due to small time steps, the relaxation of simulated plume plasma is split into the fast relaxation of the electrons distribution function and the slow one of the ions. The model is self-consistent but hybrid, since the simultaneous electron and ion motion is not really modeled. The obtained electron temperature profile is in good agreement with experiment.