Dusty plasma

About: Dusty plasma is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5294 publications have been published within this topic receiving 100576 citations. The topic is also known as: complex plasma.

Introduction to Dusty Plasma Physics

Abstract: The book Introduction to Plasma Physics by Shukla and Mamun deals with various aspects of collective processes in dusty plasmas. The first introductory chapters review dust charging and the forces on dust grains in the plasma. The next two chapters give an elaborate description of the various waves and instabilities present in plasmas. In our opinion this makes the book a must for scientists involved in dusty plasma research as for the first time these phenomena are clearly explained and catalogued in a single work. Magnetic as well as non-magnetic plasmas are treated and where applicable examples from laboratory or space plasmas are given. The text is suitable for graduate level teaching as well as referencing purposes. The authors state in the preface: `This book has grown out of research work on topics on which the authors have spent a considerable amount of time and thought.' This explains the final chapters of the book, where `hot topics' on respectively elongated grains, non-linear waves and dust crystals are discussed. Since these chapters deal with state-of-the-art research, the results are inevitably not presented in a systematic way, but rather as a compilation of recent papers. Throughout the book the subject is treated using a theoretical approach. This makes it complementary to the book Dusty Plasmas: Physics, Chemistry and Technological Impacts in Plasma Processing edited by A Bouchoule which takes an applied approach. The research on dusty plasmas is a relatively new and rapidly expanding area of science. This book will serve as a handbook on waves and instabilities dusty plasmas in the coming years. But the character of the last chapters shows that more is to come in this exciting field of research. E Stoffels and W W Stoffels

Dusty plasmas in the solar system

Abstract: The processes that lead to charging of dust grains in a plasma are briefly reviewed. Whereas for single grains the results have been long known, the reduction of the average charge on a grain by 'Debye screening' has only recently been discovered. This reduction can be important in the Jovian ring and in the rings of Uranus. The emerging field of gravitoelectrodynamics which deals with the motion of charged grains in a planetary magnetosphere is then reviewed. Important mechanisms for distributing grains in radial distance are due to stochastic fluctuations of the grain charge and a systematic variation due to motion through plasma gradients. The electrostatic levitation model for the formation of spokes is discussed, and it is shown that the radial transport of dust contained in the spokes may be responsible for the rich radial structure in Saturn's rings. Finally, collective effects in dusty plasmas are discussed which affect various waves, such as density waves in planetary rings and low-frequency plasma waves. The possibility of charged grains forming a Coulomb lattice is briefly described.

Plasma crystal: Coulomb crystallization in a dusty plasma.

Abstract: A macroscopic Coulomb crystal of solid particles in a plasma has been observed Images of a cloud of $7\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\mu}m$ "dust" particles, which are charged and levitated in a weakly ionized argon plasma, reveal a hexagonal crystal structure The crystal is visible to the unaided eye The particles are cooled by neutral gas to 310 K, and their charge is $g9800e$, corresponding to a Coulomb coupling parameter $\ensuremath{\Gamma}g20 700$ For such a large $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ value, strongly coupled plasma theory predicts that the particles should organize in a Coulomb solid, in agreement with our observations

Dust ion-acoustic wave

Abstract: The existence of a new low-frequency electrostatic wave in an unmagnetized collisionless dusty plasma is pointed out.