In dc glow discharge dusty plasmas, the formation of dust acoustic waves is a commonly observed phenomenon. Experiments in the dusty plasma experiment device produce naturally occurring dust acoustic waves with frequencies f N 5 to 25 Hz and phase velocities of Vph N 0.5 to 10 cm/s. Through the use of particle image velocimetry techniques, particle motion in the vicinity of the wavefronts is id...

An ionization source designed to efficiently utilize sub-milligram quantities of electrically non-conducting compounds (i.e. oxides) for prolonged periods of mass spectrometric analysis is described. The source is coupled to a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer in this report, but could readily be modified for alternative types of mass spectrometers. The coaxial-design glow discharge ion sou...

This article explores electric current and field distributions in dc microplasmas, which have distinctive characteristics that are not evident at larger dimensions. These microplasmas, which are powered by coplanar thin-film metal electrodes with 400-mm minimum separations on a glass substrate, are potentially useful for microsystems in both sensing and microfabrication contexts. Experiments in...

Fluoroscopy, or real-time projection X-ray imaging, has been in clinical use since shortly after Roentgen’s discovery of X-rays. Early fluoroscopes consisted simply of an X-ray source and a fluorescent screen, between which the patient was placed. After passing through the patient, the remnant beam impinged upon the fluorescent screen and produced a visible glow, which was directly observed by ...

Introduction: The primary objective of this project is to understand the consequences of glow electrical discharges on the chemistry and biology of Mars. The possibility was raised some time ago that the absence of organic material and carbonaceous matter in the Martian soil samples studied by the Viking Landers might be due in part to an intrinsic atmospheric mechanism such as glow discharge. ...