Development of a cavity ring-down spectroscopy sensor for boron nitride sputter erosion in Hall thrusters

TL;DR

This paper introduces a laser-based cavity ring-down spectroscopy sensor designed for real-time monitoring of boron nitride erosion in Hall thrusters, aiding in lifetime assessment and contamination control.

Contribution

It presents the development and demonstration of a continuous-wave CRDS system specifically for in situ BN sputter erosion detection in Hall thrusters.

Findings

Successful measurement of BN sputtering using cw-CRDS

Real-time erosion monitoring capability demonstrated

Potential for improved thruster lifetime assessment

Abstract

Sputter erosion of boron nitride (BN) is a critically important process in Hall thrusters from the point of view of both lifetime assessment and contamination effects. This contribution describes the development of a laser based sensor for in situ monitoring of sputtered BN from Hall thrusters. We present a continuous-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy (cw-CRDS) system and its demonstrative measurement results from BN sputtering experiments.