天基朗缪尔探针传感器设计与仿真

朗缪尔探针是进行空间等离子体电子密度和温度就位测量的重要仪器, 在电离层卫星探测和火箭探测中应用十分广泛. 传感器设计的合理与否是影响朗缪尔探针探测结果的关键因素之一. 朗缪尔探针传感器的结构本身比较简单, 但传感器的设计要受到多种物理条件及工程条件的限制, 其中, 有些限制条件相互制约甚至相互矛盾, 必须综合进行考虑. 从传感器形状、大小和表面材料的选取三个方面分析了朗缪尔探针的各种限制条件, 给出了一种原型朗缪尔探针的设计, 并通过仿真计算验证了该设计.

Design and Simulation for the Sensor of the Space Based Langmuir Probe

Langmuir Probe (LP) has been extensively used on satellites and sounding rockets for in situ measurements of the bulk parameters of the space plasma, i.e., electron density and electron temperature. LP sensor is usually a metallic electrode immersed in plasma for electrons and ions collection. Though the structure of the sensor is simple, there are many complex complications having to be taken into account for the design and implementation of LP investigations. There are three main factors for the sensor design, i.e., the shape, the dimension and the surface. The shape of LP sensor is mainly determined by the LP theory and end effects; the dimension is mainly determined by the signal intensity vs. capacity of the electronics, the LP theory vs. plasma environments, and the satellites or rockets conducting surface areas vs. sensor effective areas; the sensor surface should exhibit inherently uniform surface potential. All the variety complex complications above have been analyzed carefully and a prototype Langmuir probe has been designed. A simulation of the proto Langmuir probe has been done by the SPIS software, which shows the feasibility of the design.