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Heating of plasma electrons by high power millimeter wave fields at cyclotron harmonic resonance is studied. A mirror field is modeled for the local trapping of electrons. It is shown that superthermal electrons can be generated as the consequence of the ECRH of trapped electrons.
The following topics are discussed: a whistler-based electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) thruster; cross-field coupling in the helicon approximation; wave propagation; wave structure; plasma density; wave absorption; the electron distribution function; isothermal and adiabatic plasma flow; ECRH thruster modeling; a PIC code model; electron temperature; electron energy; and initial experimental tests. The discussion is presented in vugraph form.