Plasma behavior analysis of a rectangular laser-assisted pulsed plasma thruster (LAPPT) was conducted. Laser-ablation plasma in the thruster was induced through laser beam irradiation onto a solid target and accelerated by electrical means instead of direct acceleration only by using a laser beam. Plasma behaviors between planar electrodes were observed with time-resolved ICCD camera imaging. Moreover, time-of-flight (TOF) measurement of ions in the exhaust plasma plume was also conducted. As the results from the ICCD imaging, typical speed of plasmas for charge voltage of 2000 V was 30 km/s. On the other hand, from the TOF measurement, it was over 100 km/s. Together with the discussion of this discrepancy, plasma acceleration mechanism was also discussed.
