METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE ENERGY OF IONS FROM THERMAL VISUALIZATION PICTURES OF ION JETS

A method for determining the ion energy from thermal patterns of jets issuing from an ion source is proposed. Thermal experimental studies and numerical modeling are performed for a jet of ionized nitrogen losing energy in a gas target of its own gas. It is shown that the method of thermal visualization of ion jets together with their numerical modeling can be used to obtain the energy level of bombarding ions, which allows determining the magnitude of the thrust. The method can be used in studies of accelerating high-frequency ion engines with an unknown level of accelerating voltage.

Author:  I. S. Vavilov, K. I. Zharikov, P. S. Yachmenev, V. V. Fedyanin, A. I. Luk′yanchik, P. V. Stepen′
Keywords:  accelerating ion microengine, ion-optical system, thermovizualization, numerical modeling, target, ion range
Page:  718