Many-particle charged-particle plasma simulations using spatial meshes for the electromagnetic field solutions, particle-in-cell (PIC) merged with Monte Carlo collision (MCC) calculations, are coming into wide use for application to partially ionized gases. The author emphasizes the development of PIC computer experiments since the 1950s starting with one-dimensional (1-D) charged-sheet models, the addition of the mesh, and fast direct Poisson equation solvers for 2-D and 3-D. Details are provided for adding the collisions between the charged particles and neutral atoms. The result is many-particle simulations with many of the features met in low-temperature collision plasmas; for example, with applications to plasma-assisted materials processing, but also related to warmer plasmas at the edges of magnetized fusion plasmas. >

Particle-in-Cell Charged Particle Simulations, plus Monte Carlo Collisions with Neutral Atoms, PIC-MCC

Complex (dusty) plasmas: current status, open issues, perspectives

1 The Equations of Gas Dynamics 2 Magnetoplasma Dynamics 3 Waves in Magnetoplasmas 4 Magnetoplasma Stability 5 Transport in Magnetoplasmas 6 Extensions of Theory Bibliography Index

Physics of plasmas

Complex (dusty) plasmas are composed of a weakly ionized gas and charged microparticles and represent the plasma state of soft matter. Complex plasmas have several remarkable features: Dynamical time scales associated with microparticles are ``stretched'' to tens of milliseconds, yet the microparticles themselves can be easily visualized individually. Furthermore, since the background gas is dilute, the particle dynamics in strongly coupled complex plasmas is virtually undamped, which provides a direct analogy to regular liquids and solids in terms of the atomistic dynamics. Finally, complex plasmas can be easily manipulated in different ways---also at the level of individual particles. Altogether, this gives us a unique opportunity to go beyond the limits of continuous media and study---at the kinetic level---various generic processes occurring in liquids or solids, in regimes ranging from the onset of cooperative phenomena to large strongly coupled systems. In the first part of the review some of the basic and new physics are highlighted which complex plasmas enable us to study, and in the second (major) part strong coupling phenomena in an interdisciplinary context are examined. The connections with complex fluids are emphasized and a number of generic liquid and solid-state issues are addressed. In summary, application oriented research is discussed.

Complex plasmas: An interdisciplinary research field

Dusty plasmas are ubiquitous in low-temperature laboratory discharges as well as in the near-earth environment, planetary rings, and interstellar spaces. In this paper, updated knowledge of fundamentals of collective dust-plasma interactions and several novel phenomena are presented that have been observed in laboratories and in space dusty plasmas. Mechanisms that are responsible for the charging of dust grains are discussed, and the fact that the dust charge perturbation is a new dynamical variable in a dusty plasma. The underlying physics of different forces that act on a charged dust grain is reviewed. In dusty plasmas, there are new attractive forces (e.g., due to wakefield and ion focusing effects and dipole-dipole interactions between unevenly charged dust rods). Furthermore, in the presence of an ensemble of charged dust grains, there are collective dust-plasma interactions featuring new waves (e.g., the dust acoustic wave, the dust ion-acoustic wave, the dust lattice wave, etc.), new instabilities, and coherent nonlinear structures (dust acoustic and dust ion-acoustic shocks, dust voids, and dust vortices), which are also discussed. Theoretical models for numerous collective dust-plasma interactions are compared with existing observations from laboratories and space environments.

Colloquium : Fundamentals of dust-plasma interactions

Experimental determination of the charge on dust particles forming Coulomb lattices

Measurements of the melting transition of a Coulomb crystal consisting of dust particles immersed in an rf parallel plate discharge in helium were performed. The dust crystal is shown to be solid at higher gas pressure (120 Pa) and low discharge power (10--20 W). Reducing the gas pressure or increasing the discharge power leads to fluid states of the dust ensemble. Even gaslike states are observed at low pressures of about 40 Pa. The transition is attributed to an increasing effective particle temperature. The phase transition is compared with one-component-plasma and Yukawa models, and with basic predictions of theories for two-dimensional melting. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Experimental investigation of the melting transition of the plasma crystal.

The screening of dust particles immersed in the sheath of a parallel plate rf discharge in helium is studied by excitation of waves in a linear chain arrangement. The waves are excited by the radiation pressure of a modulated laser beam. The measured dispersion relation is compared with a one-dimensional dust lattice wave to obtain the shielding length. Dust acoustic waves are not compatible with the measured dispersion relation. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

Determination of the dust screening length by laser-excited lattice waves

The electrostatic interaction of a system of two single dust particles in a plasma-sheath environment with flowing ions has been investigated quantitatively It is shown that attractive net ``binding'' forces between the negatively charged particles exist, leading to the formation of a dust molecule By laser manipulation of the dust particles, it is demonstrated that the attraction is asymmetric in such a way that it acts only on one of the particles Moreover, the net forces between the particles can be reversibly changed between attraction and repulsion

Transition from Attractive to Repulsive Forces between Dust Molecules in a Plasma Sheath

Charged dust particulates, forming a layered crystal in the electrode sheath of a rf discharge, are known to show vertical alignment and an onset of characteristic oscillations below a threshold of neutral gas density. Here forces on the particulates due to the formation of positive space-charge clouds below the dust particles are calculated from Monte Carlo calculations of the ion motion in the sheath. The forces are shown to be attractive and nonreciprocal for the different crystal layers. From the Monte Carlo results an analytical lattice model is derived that quantitatively explains the experimental findings. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Alexander Piel

Papers

Experimental determination of the charge on dust particles forming Coulomb lattices

Experimental investigation of the melting transition of the plasma crystal.

Determination of the dust screening length by laser-excited lattice waves

Transition from Attractive to Repulsive Forces between Dust Molecules in a Plasma Sheath

Alignment and instability of dust crystals in plasmas.