Grid position and structure effects on ionization-acceleration in RF thruster

Grid components have a significant impact on the performance of radio-frequency (RF) ion thruster. Based on the theoretical analysis of the ionization and acceleration process of the RF ion thruster (RIT), it is found that the grid position of the RIT may affect the RF power distribution, and the grid structure may affect the process of electron energy acquisition in the skin layer, and then affect the ionization of the working medium, then indirectly affect the acceleration process. In this paper, the discharge performance and beam extraction performance of thruster with different grid axial positions and distribution of holes are compared by experiments. The experimental