Spatially resolved three-dimensional particle dynamics in the void of dusty plasmas under microgravity using stereoscopy

Ordering of dust particles in dusty plasmas under microgravity.

Structure formation of dust particles in dusty plasmas under microgravity has been simulated by the molecular dynamics method. It is shown that, at low temperatures, dust particles are organized into layered spherical shells. The number of shells is a function of the system size and the strength of screening by ambient plasma particles, while the dependency on the latter is much weaker. In the ...

Microscopic dynamics in two-dimensional strongly-coupled dusty plasmas

A strongly-coupled plasma is a collection of free charged particles that interact with a Coulomb repulsion that is so strong that nearby particles do not easily move past one another. Unlike weakly-coupled plasmas, strongly-coupled plasmas exhibit a self-organization of particles into an arrangement like a solid crystalline lattice or a liquid. Dusty plasmas consist of micron-size particles of ...

Single-particle Langevin model of particle temperature in dusty plasmas

A model of heating a particle in a dusty plasma is developed to predict the particle kinetic temperature. A Langevin approach is developed, generalizing a familiar Brownian motion model. Particles are cooled by neutral gas while being heated by one of two mechanisms: fluctuating electric fields and randomly fluctuating particle charge. Expressions are derived for the particle temperature result...

Experimental investigations of void dynamics in a dusty discharge

Dusty Plasma Dynamics During a Void Instability: Heartbeat Instability

When a three-dimensional dust cloud is present in a plasma, a dust-free region, called void, is usually observed in the plasma centre. Forces involved in the void existence are an inward electrostatic force and an outward ion drag one. Under certain conditions, this force balance can be disturbed and this region exhibits a self-excited unstable behaviour consisting in successive contractions an...