Magnetohydrodynamic modeling and simulation of a vacuum arc plasma jet with a ring anode under different external magnetic fields

Abstract

Abstract Supersonic plasma has been widely used. A vacuum arc ion source provides one possible method for generating supersonic plasma. An external magnetic field can effectively avoid the wall loss of the plasma in the ion source and improve the ion yield. In this work, a two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic model is established, considering different components including ions and electrons. With the help of simulation, we explore the physical characteristics of the supersonic vacuum arc plasma formed from a copper disk cathode. The characteristics that we focus on include plasma composition, current density distribution, plasma velocity, and plasma temperature. These characteristics as well as the ion yield are compared when different magnetic fields generated by solenoids near the cathode are applied, as well as when the arc current is different. The results show that, in the absence of an external magnetic field, ions expand freely with the approximate axial velocity and average ion charge state. With the increase of external magnetic flux density, the wall loss of the plasma will decrease, and the axial velocity and average ion charge state will increase, but the magnetic saturation phenomenon exists. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental results.