Vacuum arc thrusters (VATs) have the potential to be used in nanosatellites and a multi-anode electrode geometry (MAEG) suitable for VAT is proposed in this paper. A unique electric field distribution is formed in the MAEG because of its anode configuration, which is different from conventional electrode geometry (CEG). There exists a region where the electric field vector has opposite directions in the electrode geometry. This region affects the directional drift of electrons in the initial stage of the discharge, thereby changing the process of vacuum breakdown. The variation of the discharge process affects the generation and propagation mechanism of the plasma, forming a plasma plume in favor of the propulsion performance of thrusters. The photographs of the plasma plume are captured and the electron density distributions are measured, which prove the pinch effect on the plasma plume of MAEG. The propulsion performance of MAEG VAT is found to be superior to CEG VAT with same discharge condition and it also increases radically with the increase of discharge power. The impulse bit and thrust-to-power ratio of MAEG VAT have been found to increase by a factor of 26 and 4.5 at most compared with the CEG VAT. It is found that MAEG VAT has a potential application advantage in the field of nanosatellite propulsion.

中文翻译：

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真空电弧推进器多阳极电极几何形状的放电特性

真空电弧推进器 (VAT) 具有用于纳米卫星的潜力，本文提出了适用于增值税的多阳极电极几何结构 (MAEG)。由于其阳极配置，在 MAEG 中形成了独特的电场分布，这与传统的电极几何形状 (CEG) 不同。在电极几何形状中存在电场矢量具有相反方向的区域。该区域影响放电初期电子的定向漂移，从而改变真空击穿的过程。放电过程的变化影响等离子体的产生和传播机制，形成有利于推进器推进性能的等离子体羽流。捕获等离子体羽流的照片并测量电子密度分布，这证明了对 MAEG 等离子体羽流的夹点效应。发现MAEG VAT的推进性能在相同排放条件下优于CEG VAT，并且随着排放功率的增加而急剧增加。与 CEG VAT 相比，MAEG VAT 的脉冲钻头和推力比已被发现最多增加 26 和 4.5 倍。发现MAEG VAT在纳米卫星推进领域具有潜在的应用优势。