Development of a Field-Reversed Configuration Plasma Thruster Prototype Driven by Pulsed Rotating Magnetic Field

The field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma thruster driven by rotating magnetic field (RMF), abbreviated as the RMF-FRC thruster, is a promising plasma propulsion technology that theoretically has high specific impulse and high efficiency. It utilizes RMF to generate an azimuthal current in the plasma, thereby forming FRC. The FRC is then accelerated and ejected to generate a thrust through the Lorentz force produced by the plasma current and the radial component of the bias magnetic field. This paper introduces the development of a pulsed RMF-FRC thruster prototype. Pulsed discharge tests of RMF system were conducted, resulted in a damped oscillating current with a peak current of 2 kA and oscillation frequency of 210 kHz. The energy coupling efficiency of RMF system was measured to be approximately 42%. The largest plasma density was up to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2.28 \times 10^{19}\mathrm{m}^{-3}$</tex>. A high-speed camera captured images of the formation and ejection of plasmoid.