Dusty plasmas and applications in space and industry

A dusty plasma is an ionized gas containing dust particles, with sizes ranging from tens of nanometers to hundreds of microns. The interaction of the dust particles with the plasma and ambient environment results in a charging of the dust grains. This Chapter summarizes our basic knowledge of dusty plasmas with applications in space, industry and the laboratory. The Introduction (Section 1) provides several examples of dusty plasmas, taken from astrophysics, the solar system, earth, industry and the laboratory. The basic physical principles governing the charging mechanisms and behavior of dust particles is presented in Section 2. Section 3 discusses Correspondence/Reprint request: Dr. Robert L. Merlino, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Robert L. Merlino 74 examples of dusty plasmas in the solar system and earth. Section 4 describes examples of dusty plasmas in industry, and in particular the problem of dust formation and resulting contamination in plasma processing devices used to produce semiconductor devices. Technologically exciting new applications of dusty plasmas are also discussed. Section 5 reviews the basic laboratory devices that have been developed to study dusty plasmas. Some of the most interesting discoveries made in these devices, such as the formation of dust lattice structures (Coulomb crystals) are also described. A brief review of the results of novel experiments in dusty plasmas performed in the microgravity environment onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is presented. Finally, the problem of dust in fusion devices is outlined.