Electric potential barriers in the magnetic nozzle

Magnetic nozzles are convergent-divergent applied magnetic fields which are commonly used in electric propulsion, manufacturing, and material processing industries. This paper studies the previously overlooked physics in confining the thermalized ions injected from a near-uniform inlet in the magnetic nozzle. Through fully kinetic planar-3V particle-in-cell (PIC) modeling and simulation, an electric potential barrier is found on the periphery of the nozzle throat, which serves to confine the thermalized ions by the electric force. With the initial thermal energy as driving force and insufficient magnetic confinement, the ions overshoot the most divergent magnetic line, which results in the accumulation of positive space charges around the throat. The accumulated charges would create an ion-confining potential barrier with limited extent. Apart from the finite-electron Larmor radius (FELR) effect, two more factors are put forward to account for the limited extent of the potential barrier: the depletion of ion thermal energy and the short-circuiting effect. The influences of inlet temperature ratio of ions to electrons and magnetic inductive strength B0 are quantitively investigated using the PIC code. The results indicate that the potential barrier serves as a medium to transfer the gas dynamic thrust to the magnetic nozzle while providing constrain to the ions, like the solid wall in a de Laval nozzle. In high-B0 regime, the finite-ion Larmor radius (FILR) effect becomes dominant rather than the FELR effect in the plasma confinement of magnetic nozzles.