Waves and solitons in complex plasmas

Complex (dusty) plasmas consist of micron sized microparticles immersed into ordinary ion-electron plasmas. They can exist in solid, liquid or gaseous states and exhibit a range of dynamic phenomena such as linear and nonlinear dust waves, solitons, shocks, Mach cones, heat transfer by phonons, flows, etc. We report on the experimental and numerical study of dissipative solitons in complex plasmas. We investigated the structural and dynamic changes of the lattice due to wave propagation, properties of compressional solitons, as well as interaction of counter-propagating solitons and the influence of the lattice inhomogeneity on the soliton propagation. It was found that the colliding solitons are delayed by their interaction and that the solitons propagating in a lattice with reducing number density exhibit an increase of amplitude (steepening).