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Spatial ion energy measurements using a retarding field energy analyzer are performed in the exhaust of a 0.30mTorr, 250W helicon double layer plasma to investigate the divergence of the argon ion beam formed by acceleration in the double layer. Various divergence angles are computed by considering the radial distribution of beam density; the average beam ion diverging by 9°. The efficiency at which momentum is imparted parallel to the longitudinal axis of the thruster is calculated to be 98%. The results show that a few centimeters downstream of the source, the beam ions do not follow the magnetic field lines.
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Cox et al. (2008) studied this question.
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