PLASMA ACCELERATOR ARRANGEMENT

摘要

The invention relates to a plasma accelerator arrangement, especially for use as an ion thruster in a spacecraft. According to the invention, the arrangement is structured in such a way that an accelerated electron beam is introduced into an ionisation chamber with propellant gas and guided through the ionisation chamber as a concentrated beam, towards an electric deceleration field which also acts as an acceleration field for the propellant ions produced by ionisation. The arrangement produces a focussed beam of an essentially neutral plasma with a high degree of efficiency. Examples of configurations for electric and magnetic fields for guiding and focussing the beams are also given.