Research

Plasma-Wall Interactions



HTX is investigating the effect of plasma-wall interactions. Yield of electron induced secondary electron emission is one of the key parameters of dielectric materials. It determines the development of electron avalanches, electrical charging of spacecrafts, and electrical breakdowns.



ExB Plasma Flow



Plasmas with crossing electric and magnetic fields involve many interesting and not well understood phenomena. Instabilities such as the spoke have important effects on the plasma flow, for example affecting efficiencies of plasma thrusters. HTX is investigating the physics underlying these ExB plasmas to better understand their operation, with the goal of designing around the instabilities.



Plasma Sources



This research effort is split into two aims: to investigate novel electron sources such as ferroelectric plasma sources and to create a non-thermal microplasma source to serve as a model to gain insight into the properties of microplasmas and the basics of their interactions with a surface of catalysts.



Plasma Diagnostics



Several advanced diagnostic techniques are used to measure plasma properties, from standard probes such as Langmuir and Emissive probes, to developing methods with Laser Induced Fluorescence to take non-invasive measurements of velocity distributions of ions.