Dust particle growth in a plasma is a strongly disturbing phenomenon for the plasma equilibrium. It can induce many different types of low-frequency instabilities that can be experimentally observed, especially using high-speed imaging. A spectacular case has been observed in a krypton plasma where a huge density of dust particles is grown by material sputtering. The instability consists of wel...

The plasma is an ionized gas that responses collectively to any external (or internal) perturbations. Introducing micron-sized solid dust grains into makes it more interesting. acquire large negative charges on their surface and exhibits collective behavior similar the ambient medium. Some remarkable features of charged grain medium (dusty plasma) allow us use as a model system understand some ...

A fluid analysis of the excitation of dust ion-acoustic (DIA) waves in a collisional dusty plasma is presented. The DIA waves are excited by a relative drift of the electrons and ions produced by a steady-state electric field applied to the plasma. The DIA instability is more easily excited if the relative concentration of negatively charged dust is increased.

We have considered an unmagnetized dusty plasma system consisting of ions obeying superthermal distribution and strongly coupled negatively charged dust. We have used reductive perturbation method and derived the Kordeweg-de Vries-Burgers (KdV-Burgers) equation. The behavior of the shock waves in the plasma has been investigated. Keywords—Shock, Soliton, Coupling, Superthermal ions.

The intensity ratio of two atomic or ionic spectral lines in a plasma is a function of electron temperature. By imaging two spectral lines, and computing the line ratio, pixel by pixel, an image of the electron temperature is produced. This is demonstrated using a dusty plasma consisting of submicron particles suspended in an argon RF glow discharge.