Experimental investigation of fast plasma production for the VAIPER antenna

Abstract

For this Master’s thesis, I will conduct the preliminary experimental study of fast plasma ignition times under varying conditions. The timing of the plasma needs to be characterized before a small scale plasma antenna can be completed. The experimental part of this project is a collaboration between Prof. Mitchell Walker’s High Power Electric Propulsion Lab (HPEPL) in Aerospace Engineering and Prof. Morris Cohen’s group in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.