Parallel solution of surface-volume integral equations for the design of Helicon plasma thrusters

Radiofrequency (RF) magnetized Helicon plasma sources have been proposed as propulsive devices for space thrusters. In order to optimize the antenna-plasma coupling in a Helicon source the ADAMANT code, which implements the numerical solution of surface-volume integral equations, has been developed; the approach lends itself to parallel execution. Results concerning the speed-up obtained through parallelization will be discussed.