A 2D3V Electromagnetic PIC/MCC Simulation of Plume Properties in Ion Thruster

The plume properties in an ion thruster are investigated by means of simulation. The 2D axisymmetric physical model of the plume is established, and the 2D3V electromagnetic particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision method is used to give a full kinetic description for the formation of the plume and the interaction between plume and electromagnetic fields. The high-performance graphics processing unit is used to accelerate the execution of our code. The spatiotemporal evolutions of fast ions, charge exchange ions, and electrons are obtained and analyzed. The backflow phenomenon and the variations of the electromagnetic field at different times are also discussed.