Device convolution effects on the collective scattering signal of the E x B mode from Hall thruster experiments: 2D dispersion relation

The effect of the collective light scattering diagnostic transfer function is considered in the context of the dispersion relation of the unstable E x B mode previously reported. This transfer function is found to have a contribution to the measured frequencies and mode amplitudes which is more or less significant depending on the measurement wavenumbers and angles. After deconvolution, the experimental data are found to be possibly compatible with the idea that the mode frequency in the jet frame (after subtraction of the Doppler effect due to the plasma motion along the thruster axis) is independent of the orientation of the wave vector in the plane orthogonal to the local magnetic field. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4748286]