Effect of Sheath Structure on Operating Stability in an Anode Layer Thruster

The discharge current oscillation has been measured for various hollow anode widths and its axial positions using a 1㎾-class anode layer hall thruster. As a result, there were thresholds of magnetic flux density for stable discharge. The plasma structure inside the hollow anode was numerically analyzed using the fully kinetic 2D3V Particle-in-Cell (PIC) and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) methods. The results reproduced both stable and unstable operation modes. In the stable operation case, which corresponds to the case with low magnetic flux, the plasma penetrated into the hollow anode deeper than the case with higher magnetic flux density case. This suggests that comparably large substantial anode area should contribute to stable operation.