Collective Phenomena in Strongly Coupled Dissipative Systems of Charged Dust: from Ground to Microgravity Experiments

In present work the formation of dusty plasma structures in cryogenic glow dc discharge was investigated. The ordered structures from large number (～10⁴) of charged diamagnetic dust particles in a cusp magnetic trap have been also studied in microgravity conditions. The super high charging (up to 5·10⁷e) of dust macroparticles under direct stimulation by an electron beam is experimentally performed and investigated. The results of the investigation of Brownian motion for strongly coupled dust particles in plasma are presented. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Formation of plasma dust structures at atmospheric pressure

The formation of strongly coupled stable dust structures in the plasma produced by an electron beam at atmospheric pressure was detected experimentally. Analytical expressions were derived for the ionization rate of a gas by an electron beam in an axially symmetric geometry by comparing experimental data with Monte Carlo calculations. Self-consistent one-dimensional simulations of the beam plasma were performed in the diffusion drift approximation of charged plasma particle transport with electron diffusion to determine the dust particle levitation conditions. Since almost all of the applied voltage drops on the cathode layer in the Thomson glow regime of a non-self-sustained gas discharge, a distribution of the electric field that grows toward the cathode is produced in it; this field together with the gravity produces a potential well in which the dust particles levitate to form a stable disk-shaped structure. The nonideality parameters of the dust component in the formation region of a highly ordered quasi-crystalline structure calculated using computational data for the dust particle charging problem were found to be higher than the critical value after exceeding which an ensemble of particles with a Yukawa interaction should pass to the crystalline state.     

Recombination instability of dust plasma of a non-self-sustained discharge in the collision regime

Recombination instability of a dust plasma of a non-self-sustained discharge maintained by an ionizing radiation beam has been studied for the conditions when the collisions of ions with atoms in the charged layer of a dust particle considerably affect the ion current to the particle. It has been shown that the collisions of ions elevate the stability of the plasma. The dependence of the conditions for the evolution of instability and its increment on the discharge parameters has been analyzed.     

On the interaction of microparticles with ion flux in gas discharge plasma

The charging and interaction of microparticles in the gas discharge near-electrode region, where the role of the external electric field and ion drift is significant, are considered. It is shown that the ion focusing, responsible for, as is generally accepted, the formation of vertical linear dust structures, is strongly suppressed under conditions typical of experiments with dusty plasma (i.e., the gas discharge at pressures of 10–100 Pa). The contribution of ions trapped by an ion microparticle to the dusty particle charge is estimated. It is shown that trapped ions can appreciably reduce the microparticle charge.     

Analysis of macroparticle charging in the near-electrode layer of a high-frequency capacitive discharge

Spatial variation of dust particle charges are estimated numerically for typical laboratory experiment conditions in a radio-frequency (rf) capacitive discharge. The surface potentials of macroparticles levitating in the upper part of the near-electrode layer of the rf discharge are measured. A model is proposed for the formation of irregular dust oscillations due to stochastic motion of dust in the bulk of a spatially inhomogeneous plasma (in the presence of a dust charge gradient). This mechanism is used for analyzing the results of measurements of the amplitude of vertical vibrations of dust particles in the near-electrode layer of the rf discharge. It is found that the dust charge gradient may be responsible for the development of such vibrations.     

Ultrahigh charging of dust particles in a nonequilibrium plasma

Charging of dust particles in a plasma with the two-temperature energy distribution of electrons has been studied. It has been shown that the dust-particle potential divided by the electron temperature decreases with increasing electron temperature in the plasma with cold ions. Owing to this behavior, the potential of the dustparticle surface increases with the electron temperature more slowly than the linear function and is lower than the electron temperature (divided by the elementary charge) for T _e > 5.5 eV in hydrogen and for T _e > 240 eV in argon. The fraction of fast electrons at which these electrons begin to contribute to the charge of dust particles has been determined. It has been shown that the charge of micron particles can reach 10⁶ elementary charges. The effect of the cold and thermal field emission on the charge of dust particles has been analyzed. The possibility of obtaining ultrahigh charges (to 10⁷ elementary charges on dust particles with a radius of 50–100 μm irradiated by a 25-keV 1-mA electron beam has been demonstrated.     

Surface states and the charge of a dust particle in a plasma

We investigate electron and ion surface states of a negatively charged dust particle in a gas discharge and identify the charge of the particle with the electron surface density bound in the polarization-induced short-range part of the particle potential. On that scale, ions do not affect the charge. They are trapped in the shallow states of the Coulomb tail of the potential and act only as screening charges. Using orbital-motion limited electron charging fluxes and the particle temperature as an adjustable parameter, we obtain excellent agreement with experimental data.     

Stable dust structures in non-self-sustained gas discharge under atmospheric pressure

The formation of stable dust structures in electron-beam-controlled non-self-sustained discharge plasma was predicted and experimentally observed. To determine the conditions for dust-particle levitation, the self-consisted one-dimensional simulation of a non-self-sustained gas discharge was carried out using a nonlocal model of charged plasma-particle transport with allowance for electron diffusion. It is shown that, in the cathode layer of a non-self-sustained gas discharge, a strong electric field arises in the Thomson regime, which, in conjunction with the gravity force, forms a potential well where the dust particles undergo levitation.     

Charge and structures of dust particles in a gas discharge at cryogenic temperatures

A dusty plasma in a dc gas discharge is considered at low (cryogenic) temperatures of the gas. The formation of dusty plasma structures consisting of monodisperse poly(styrene) particles (d = 5.44 μm) in a dc glow discharge is experimentally investigated at cryogenic temperatures in the range from 4.2 to 77 K, and the results obtained are presented. The ion velocity distribution function and the charging of dust particles at cryogenic temperatures are calculated using the molecular dynamics method. The primary attention is focused on the correct inclusion of ion-atom collisions in the analysis. This is essential to the understanding of the main mechanisms of the experimentally observed increase in the density of dust particles with decreasing temperature of the gas in the discharge.     

月表尘埃颗粒带电的机理及应用研究

研究月尘颗粒在电子束环境下以及紫外源辐照下的带电机理,利用数值方法模拟月尘颗粒在不同背景环境下的充电过程,以探索月表尘埃颗粒的带电机理,进而便于地面月尘环境模拟装置选择合适的月尘带电方式进行空间模拟实验.给出了尘埃在电子束环境下的充电方程,并将紫外辐射带电与具体应用相结合.通过模拟结果可知,在电子束环境下,月尘表面的电荷数随粒径尺寸增大,随电子枪辐照束斑半径减少,随电子枪流强的增加而增多;在紫外源的辐照下,月尘表面电荷数随颗粒尺寸的增大以及紫外线辐照度的增加而增多.由月尘颗粒受太阳紫外辐照带电的数值模拟结果可知,月尘需要在太阳长时间的辐照下才可以带上可观的电荷数,地面模拟该过程需增加辐照源来加速实验.通过模拟结果的分析比较并结合"空间环境模拟装置"中对月尘舱的设计要求,最终优选紫外源辐照带电方式作为月尘颗粒的带电方案.     

Self-oscillations of macroparticles in the dust plasma of glow discharge

Two types of instabilities emerging in dust-plasma systems with a spatial gradient of the macroparticle charge are considered. It is shown that the change in the macroparticle charge is an effective mechanism for exciting dust self-oscillations in a laboratory plasma. The results of experimental observations and an analysis of the conditions for the development of various self-oscillations of macroparticles in the strata of a dc glow discharge are presented.     

Numerical study on the characteristics of nitrogen discharge at high pressure with induced plasma

Based on the fluid theory of plasma, a model is built to study the characteristics of nitrogen discharge at high pressure with induced argon plasma. In the model, species such as electrons, N2+, N4+, Ar+, and two metastable states (N 2(A3∑u+), N2 (a1 ∑u-)) are taken into account. The model includes the particle continuity equation, the electron energy balance equation, and Poisson抯equation. The model is solved with a finite difference method. The numerical results are obtained and used to investigate the effect of time taken to add nitrogen gas and initially-induced argon plasma pressure. It is found that lower speeds of adding the nitrogen gas and varying the gas pressure can induce higher plasma density, and inversely lower electron temperature. At high-pressure discharge, the electron density increases when the proportion of nitrogen component is below 40%, while the electron density will keep constant as the nitrogen component further increases. It is also shown that with the increase of initially-induced argon plasma pressure, the density of charged particles increases, and the electron temperature as well as the electric field decreases.     

Using an auto-oscillating beam-plasma discharge to implant ions into dust particles

The feasibility of implanting ions into dust particles by means of high-voltage charging under conditions of a beam-plasma discharge (BPD) is discussed. It is proposed that additional pulsed charging in the BPD auto-oscillating mode, and magnetic and temporal compression of the high-energy electron beam, be used to increase the potential of dust particle surfaces.     

The ion emissivity of a hollow-cathode non-self-sustained glow discharge

The paper presents the results of research of the mass-charge state of an ion beam extracted from the plasma of a hollow-cathode non-self-sustained glow discharge with a time-of-flight spectrometer. The influence of the discharge parameters on the mass-charge state of the beam is discussed. It has been shown that a drop in discharge operating voltage allows a substantial decrease in the metal-ion fraction of the beam, and an increase in discharge current results in an increase in the average charge of gas ions and in an increase in the metal fraction of the beam. Institute of High Current Electronics. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 14–20, February, 2000.     

Large amplitude ion-acoustic double layers in a plasma havingvariable-charge dust grain particles

The dust grain charging effect on large amplitude ion-acoustic double layers in a dusty plasma are investigated by the numerical calculation. The nonlinear structures of ion-acoustic double layers are examined, showing that the characteristics of the double layer sensitively depend on the dust charging effect, the influence of the ion temperature, the electrostatic potential, and the Mach number. The flow of the plasma current to the surface of dust particles increases the dust charge numbers. The effect of the ion temperature decreases the propagation speed of the ion-acoustic double layers and decreases the dust charge numbers. It is found that rarefactive double layers can propagate in this system. New findings of large amplitude ion-acoustic double layers with the dust charging effect and finite ion temperature in a dusty plasma are predicted     

Formation of dust-acoustic shock waves in a strongly coupled cryogenic dusty plasma

The nonlinear propagation of ultra-low-frequency dust-acoustic (DA) waves in a strongly coupled cryogenic dusty plasma has been investigated, by using the Boltzmann distributed electrons and ions, as well as modified hydrodynamic equations for strongly coupled charged dust grains. The reductive perturbation technique is used to derive the Burger equation. It is shown that strong correlations among negatively charged dust particles acts like a dissipation, which is responsible for the formation of the DA shock waves. The latter are associated with the negative potential, i.e. with the compression of negatively charged cryogenic dust particle density. It is also found that the effective dust-temperature, which arises from electrostatic interactions among negatively charged dust particles, significantly affects the height of the DA shock structures. New laboratory experiments at cryogenic temperature should be conducted to verify our theoretical prediction.     

Interaction between glow discharge plasma and dust particles

The effect of dust particle concentration on gas discharge plasma parameters was studied through development of a self-consistent kinetic model which is based on solving the Boltzmann equation for the electron distribution function. It was shown that an increase in the Havnes parameter causes an increase in the average electric field and ion density, as well as a decrease in the charge of dust particles and electron density in a dust particle cloud. Self-consistent simulations for a wide range of plasma and dust particle parameters produced several scaling laws: these are laws for dust particle potential and electric field as a function of dust particle concentration and radius, and the discharge current density. The simulation results demonstrate that the process of self-consistent accommodation of parameters of dust particles and plasma in condition of particle concentration growth causes a growth in the number of high-energy electrons in plasma, but not to depletion of electron distribution function.     

Coulomb structures of charged macroparticles in static magnetic traps at cryogenic temperatures

Electrically charged (up to 10⁷ e) macroscopic superconducting particles with sizes in the micrometer range confined in a static magnetic trap in liquid nitrogen and in nitrogen vapor at temperatures of 77–91 K are observed experimentally. The macroparticles with sizes up to 60 μm levitate in a nonuniform static magnetic field B ~ 2500 G. The formation of strongly correlated structures comprising as many as ~10³ particles is reported. The average particle distance in these structures amounts to 475 μm. The coupling parameter and the Lindemann parameter of these structures are estimated to be ~10⁷ and ~0.03, respectively, which is characteristic of strongly correlated crystalline or glasslike structures.     

极区夏季中层顶区域尘埃粒子参数的研究

采用轨道受限运动方法研究了极区夏季中层顶区域的尘埃粒子电荷数与尘埃粒子半径。利用尘埃等离子体充电理论,建立了尘埃粒子充电方程模型,得到尘埃粒子充电时尘埃电荷数和半径的比值。然后结合ECT02实验数据,分析了发生极区中层夏季回波现象时极区中层顶区域尘埃粒子电荷数和半径的比值,并得到尘埃粒子的半径以及尘埃粒子所带电荷量。结果表明,极区中层顶区域的尘埃粒子平均所带电荷不到一个,它的半径约为20nm。     

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采用轨道受限运动方法研究了极区夏季中层顶区域的尘埃粒子电荷数与尘埃粒子半径。利用尘埃等离子体充电理论,建立了尘埃粒子充电方程模型,得到尘埃粒子充电时尘埃电荷数和半径的比值。然后结合ECT02实验数据,分析了发生极区中层夏季回波现象时极区中层顶区域尘埃粒子电荷数和半径的比值,并得到尘埃粒子的半径以及尘埃粒子所带电荷量。结果表明,极区中层顶区域的尘埃粒子平均所带电荷不到一个,它的半径约为20nm。