Numerical analysis of CW laser propulsion

Laser propulsion powered by a CW laser has been studied. Thruster performan ce and energy balance in the thruster were numerically computed. Laser beam optics, inverse-bremsstrahlung absorption, ionization/recombination reacti ons, radiation, heat conduction, and convection have been modeled. Computat ional stiffness resulting from the very small flow speed has been overcome by using a flux vector splitting implicit scheme with a large CFL number. T he computed positions of the Laser Sustained Plasma (LSP) in the thruster s how good agreement with the measured ones. The estimated energy conversion efficiency was 23%, and the rest of the input power was lost as radiation f rom the LSP and also carried by the laser beam passing through the LSP.