A New Self-Consistent Boundary Condition for Modeling of Plasma Plume Evolution Using a Fully Kinetic Pic Approach

Revathi Jambunathan, Deborah Levin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Plasma plume expansion is commonly observed in many applications, such as, ion thruster plumes, astrophysical jets, as well as plasma accelerators. Typically, electrons are treated as a fluid for such simulations, however, in our recent1 kinetic treatment of electrons we have shown that the electron velocity distribution in an expanding plume is anisotropic. In particular, we found that when the electron source is shifted compared to the ion beam, as is observed in realistic ion engine configurations, holes develop in the electron phase-space within 3,000 electron plasma periods, i.e., 3,000omega-{text{pe}} {-1}. This bi-modal electron velocity distribution is known to trigger a two-stream instability, and affect the ion dynamics. The times-scale over which the ion dynamics2 is affected is typically 40omega-{text{pi}}{-1} or 12,000omega-{text{pe}} {-1}. A major issue in modeling electrons kinetically is that, when electrons exit the domain, a virtual anode is developed, leading to non-physical effects. To work around this problem, the kinetic plasma plume simulations are terminated before the leading-edge of the plume, called the beam-front, crosses the boundary thereby avoiding boundary-effects. However, important physics, such as, ion beam neutralization as well as the effect of bi-modal electron velocity distribution on the ion beam evolution require long simulations times.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationICOPS 2018 - 45th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781538645895
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 24 2018
Event45th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, ICOPS 2018 - Denver, United States
Duration: Jun 24 2018Jun 28 2018

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Plasma Science
Volume2018-June
ISSN (Print)0730-9244

Conference

Conference45th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, ICOPS 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDenver
Period6/24/186/28/18

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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